Getting to know Naruto
by amy-louise11
Summary: a practise sparring match goes wrong against his teacher Kakashi. Naruto loses his memory from the day he graduated the academy onwards. as Naruto slowly regains his memories his friends and teachers learn things about the boy that they had never known...
1. Chapter 1

Hiya there! This is my first Naruto fanfic and its set somewhere after Tsnade becoming Hokage and Saske leaving to go to Orochimaru. Please review after you've read for any comment, and I know my spelling sucks.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I wish I did!

Chapter 1

Sighing Kakashi shook his head slightly. Would the kid never learn?

Falling into a crouch he rolled to one side dodging numerous shrunken in a blur of movement only to stand and land a side kick into the charging Naruto's stomach.

The blond haired teen's tiajitsu wasn't up to standard. He would have to come up with a special training routine especially for him.

He watched as Naruto hit the ground, creating a small cloud of dust, coughing as he held his stomach with one arm.

"Your taijitsu is too slow Naruto; your movements are too big giving your opponent time to react." Then knowing his next comment would cause his students blood to boil Kakashi added with a concealed smile: "Unlike Saske, he's very good at taijitsu…"

Naruto's response to this was a strange steely glint to his blue eyes, as his face took on a harder look, all of which were very uncharacteristic.

The whole reason for this one on one training with Naruto was to see his growth from his training spent with Jariaya (who was apparently working on a new book of come come paradise!). It had been a long time since he had seen Naruto's true abilities. He had dismissed Saske and Sakura especially so he could put Naruto through his paces. It seemed Naruto had mastered the water walk very quickly, closely followed by a summoning jitsu and the A-class ninja technique, the Rasengan.

Picking himself up Naruto settled into an easy stance as he felt the boy moulding large amounts of charkra.

His eyes were lit by an internal fire as Kakashi sensed his charkra level build. Maybe he'd been wrong to mention Saske, their friendship was…difficult at best.

"Kage Bunshin no Jitsu!" he cried.

Instantly the white haired jounin was surrounded by a circle of Naruto's, their bright orange jump suit things reflecting light harshly into his one exposed eye.

That was another thing he had never understood about the boy, orange really wasn't a ninja colour.

The clones paired up, holding their hands close together where glowing blue spheres formed.

So this was the Rasengan.

Knowing what he was against Kakashi pushed up his forehead protector to uncover the Sharingan.

It was true that jitsu's without hand seals couldn't be copied but the Sharinga would allow him to see where Naruto was about to attack.

Reeling off a fast string of hand seals Kakashi muttered 'Earth jitsu'. Under a cloud of dust he disappeared below the ground.

Moving as though water through the earth Kakashi located the Narutos above him through his Sharinga before randomly pulling them down by their ankles so only the head was above ground.

"Rasengan!" cried multiple voices simultaneously above him.

The earth shook. He was burrowing down!

Reaching up he pulled two more of Naruto down to their necks in the earth before pushing himself up above ground.

Landing on firm ground Kakashi swept the area with one fast look that took in everything. The many Naruto clones whose heads were the only thing remaining above ground smiled at him before simultaneously disappearing in white clouds as the jitsu was released. It had been a funny site of about ten Naruto heads sitting scattered across the ground.

But where was the real Naruto?

Something really wasn't right…

_Naruto's near by, I can still feel his chakra._

Searching he tried to feel out where this charkra was coming from…

"I've got you!" Naruto's voice cried from remarkably close.

Eyes widening, Kakashi looked down in horror.

It couldn't be!

A pair of hands shot up through the ground latching onto his left ankle.

Pushing all his charkra to his feet Kakashi leapt into the air, pulling the dishevelled looking Naruto forcibly from the under the ground, scattering chunks of earth in every direction.

Using the advantage of his speed Kakashi twisted, Kicking out precisely with his right leg catching Naruto under the ribs with a powerful kick causing him to cry out.

The hands were ripped from his ankle by the force of the kick propelling him backwards.

Naruto slammed against a tree trunk, as Kakashi twisted into an easy back flip.

Landing lightly on his toes he observed his stunned student seriously.

Had Naruto just copied his technique? He couldn't have done, not without the Sharingan.

Reaching up Kakashi was about to pull down the forehead protector over his eye when he saw Naruto stir. There was something different about him.

Naruto, stood his face in shadow but something was wrong…very wrong.

Then he realised.

Naruto's charkra had _changed_.

It was the Kyuubi's…

And suddenly it was that night again from all those years ago…the huge demon fox thrashing and snarling, it's tails slicing through the air like fiery whips.

Darkness.

Fear.

Blood.

Pain.

Death.

All stemming from that terrible charkra…

As though through a mist fogging his mind Kakashi saw Naruto raise his head, his crimson eyes met KaKashi's Sharingan as he unconsciously closed his normal eye.

Charkra built up behind his eye.

The iris grew hot as his vision changed.

Together they were drawn into Kakashi's memory of the night the Kyuubi was sealed…

The world around them was in black, white and red. It was _that_ night. Lit against the ebony sky was the violent blood red form of Kyuubi. The colour of its wide rolling eyes seemed inverted; twisting the eye and mind to see. All around it shinobi died trying to protect Konoha.

Blood rained down as a ninja was sliced open like a fish by the murderous charkra.

Hatred.

Fear.

Pain.

Kakashi saw Naruto pinned to a tree in front of him, facing the Kyuubi. His hair had turned red in the unnatural light.

Hate…

Hate…

HATE…

In a swirl of cloud a giant toad appeared, with the Hokage Yondaime on its head.

Blue light exploded across the sky from where the Hokage stood.

With the ultimate sacrifice he gave his life to save the village.

The world shimmered and refocused on an infant baby that lay crying on the ground covered in blood. The seal freshly burned onto its stomach.

Next to the baby stood two masked ninjas.

"We should kill it…" the words echoed strangely over and over again.

"No, let it live, Yondaime said the child should live."

What they had just seen played over and over again, like a reel of film, trapping them watching it over and over again. Faster and faster Naruto was forced to watch, Kakashi felt outside this world of black, white and red, yet unable to escape.

He couldn't think.

He didn't understand. Was this real?

A scream ripped through the darkened world.

With all his strength Kakashi pull himself out of the trance like state that had absorbed him.

It was Naruto. He was still pinned to the tree, having to watch the event of the demon being sealed within him over and over again. The atmosphere burned with hatred and murderous intent, not from the kyuubi, but towards it, and towards the infant Naruto.

"Naruto!" Kakashi cried as he tried to move forward. Squeezing his eyes shut he forced himself to move…

He stumbled, causing his eyes to fly open.

Frozen, Kakashi remained unmoving staring with his eyes open to the fullest extent.

The world was back to normal, blue sky, green trees, brown earth…

Then his eyes fell on Naruto where he sat slumped at the base of the tree he had been standing against.

His cerulean eyes were glazed and empty staring unmoving at the ground.

Leaping to Naruto's side he couldn't help noticing the weakness in his own body, the feeling he got when he'd used the Chidori to its limit, or like when he'd over used his Sharigan…

Oh shit.

No.

Had he done what he thought he'd done!

Gently shaking Naruto, Kakashi spoke his name over and over again.

How had it happened? He didn't know how or even if it was possible, but he was certain about one thing.

This was the result of the Mangekyou Sharingan.

Kakashi leant down pulling Naruto over his shoulder.

He had to get Naruto to Tsnade as soon as possible. If this was indeed the results of the Mangekyou Sharingan then Naruto was suffering from a sever psychological attack, just as he himself had suffered from Itachi.

With difficulty he stood, shifting Naruto's unconscious form so that he had both hands free.

Horse, goat, snake…

He quickly completed a series of hand seals.

Disappearing in a swirling cloud he instantly reappeared in the Hokage's office.

To his great relief there was Tsnade seated behind her desk.

"What is it Kakashi, I'm really rather busy…" she said, finishing the sentence she was writing before looking up.

"What has happened?" suddenly deadly serious Tsnade stood, both her hands flat to the table.

"I think Naruto has received a psychological attack." Kakashi said as Tsunade flew around the desk to his side to examine Naruto.

"From who?" the Hokage asked as her fingers brushed the unconscious boy's temples as she began to asses the damage he had received.

Raising his one visible eye Kakashi caught the Hokages gaze.

"From me."

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think, this is jus getting the story started. Review to give me some encouragement ;D

p.s. the story name is better explained in the next chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

Hiya there again! Thanx for the reviews! I've never had so many so quickly! It really did encourage me to get this chapter done as soon as I could! I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think!

O

"You'll tell me everything but after he has been healed." Tsunade commanded from where she stood very close to Kakashi, her gaze weighing down upon Kakashi with all the power and authority of being Hokage.

Her gaze held his for a second longer before she continued in her normal tone "Lay him on the desk. Do you know what sort of psychological attack it was?"

Lowering Naruto onto the desk Kakashi didn't know what she would make of his answer when he himself didn't know what to make of it!

"I think…the Mangekyou Sharingan…"

Their eyes met over Naruto's unconscious form.

"I don't know how it happened…" he said quietly.

"Naruto first, then I'll heal you." Tsnade said in a brisk business way as her attention resumed to the unconscious teen.

"I'm fine, I just need rest. You can't heal what the Sharingan does."

Angrily she shot him a glance. She knew he was right about the Sharingan.

Holding her hands above Naruto's forehead a bright glowing green light radiated from them onto him.

Kakashi remained silent as he watched Tsunade heal his student.

How could this have happened? He remembered his memory of the Kyuubi intruding into his mind…the feeling of charkra building in his eye…it had really happened.

"There, he should be fine now, he's just sleeping," Tsnade said as she drew her hands away from Naruto. Leaning against her desk Tsnade wiped the back of her hand across her forehead.

Once again their gaze met.

"We'll talk at the hospital." Tsunade said again as she lifted Naruto over her own shoulder.

Arriving at the hospital Kakashi and Tsunade, who was still carrying Naruto, were shown to an empty room by a healer. No one questioned the Hokage, no one was in better hands when they were with the great healer Tsunade but that didn't stop people from watching the unconscious boy as he passed.

After laying Naruto on the bed where he now lay in a peaceful sleep Tsunade turned to Kakashi.

"Alright, now can you tell me what happened from the beginning?" she said not unkindly as she turned to Kakashi arms folded.

Sighing, Kakashi told the Hokage what had happened.

Throughout the whole of Kakashi's recount of events Tsunade had remained silent but now she moved forward as she unfolded her arms.

"Would you mind lifting your forehead protector above both of your eyes?" she said calmly.

Hesitant, Kakashi reached up pushing his leaf forehead protector uncovering the Sharingan.

Reaching up Tsunade placed her hands on Kakashi's face pulling his eye open wide for her to peer into it.

"It's only your normal Sharingan currently but I can sense the remnant of some powerful charkra close around your eye." Stepping back Tsunade dropped her hands to her sides.

Thankful that Tsunade had finished Kakashi pulled down his forehead protector once again to cover his eye. He felt close to exhaustion. His limbs were weak, as though his muscles were made of water.

"Is it true that when the Mangekyou Sharingan is activated the markings of the eye changes?" Tsunade asked.

"Yes, I witnessed this when Uchia Itachi came for Naruto." Kakashi confirmed as his one visible eye fixed on the unconscious Naruto.

"Well, Kakashi it is a natural development of the Sharingan. Naruto will be fine; I'll keep an eye on him myself." Tsunade said her voice and face softening as she too turned to look at his unconscious form.

At that moment, he couldn't explain why, it suddenly struck Kakashi how hard Naruto had to work for everything he had ever got. He'd had a tough life all ready and it wasn't going to get easier, yet he was always such a cheerful kid. He'd never seen Naruto truly angry that wasn't something he could laugh off or something that wasn't so sad that he couldn't smile through it.

"Kakashi. Kakashi?" Tsunade called.

Startled he turned to face her.

"Are you sure your all right Kakashi? Look, don't worry. Naruto will understand if that's what you're worried about. Now go get some rest and that's an order from your Hokage." Tsunade said sternly not hiding her slight smile.

"I'll stay here for a while first. Don't worry, I'll rest in that chair right there." Kakashi said smiling; the only visible sign was the curving of his eye.

"Alright. Naruto will probably wake up soon anyway. I would say that a normal person would wake after a nights rest, but with Naruto you never know, he heals so quickly." Tsunade sighed.

"I'll go now as I'm of no further use and as there's a pile of paper work waiting for me…" grimacing she turned to the door. "Bye Kakashi. Get some rest. I'll know if you don't."

And with that she was through the door and out of sight.

Crossing the room Kakashi settled in the one chair the room owned, staring at the blank walls.

The daylight died. The room darkened.

Kakashi remained motionless in the dark, staring, deep in thought.

He had taken their sparring match too far.

Looking at his students form once again Kakashi knew that to be a major understatement.

They had both gone too far whilst fighting but he was responsible, he was a jounin. He shouldn't have taunted Naruto by comparing him to Saske. He knew how competitive they were, he'd seen examples of it many times.

And how would Naruto feel when he woke and realised that he had been attacked so badly by his teacher.

All these thoughts were circling in his mind but it was a different matter that was truly troubling him: would Naruto remember what he had been subjected to under the Mangekyou Sharingan? The hatred of the village against the Kyuubi, and against Naruto.

He felt ashamed of that memory, the fear and hatred that he felt towards the infant Naruto before he got to know him. It wasn't an excuse. He was ashamed and disgusted with himself then for not seeing Naruto as a person but as the Kyuubi. He was worried Naruto would wake up and remember what he had been forced to witness. He didn't hate Naruto, you couldn't hate Naruto. He won everyone over in the end.

"Are you all right?" called a kind voice.

Looking up Kakashi saw a nurse standing on the door way.

"I didn't know anyone was in here. I'll turn the light on for you." She said smiling as she flicked on the light. Casting a last look over the room she carried on down the corridor.

Rubbing his eyes Kakashi yawned when he heard a quiet rustling sound.

Naruto was sitting up on the bed. Rubbing his head he looked around in a rather bemused way when his ocean blue eyes landed on Kakashi.

"How are you Naruto?" he said sitting forward.

Naruto stared at Kakashi, looking him up and down.

"Do I know you one eye?" Naruto asked in a guarded way as his eyes flicked around the room once again.

"Well? Who are you and why am I in hospital?" Naruto demanded more firmly this time.

Oooooh, this was _not_ good.

O

Authors Rant:

My spelling sucks, feel free to correct me if I misspelled any ninja terms.

Hope this is going ok, personally I like the next bit! Review and let me know what you think! Until next time!


	3. Chapter 3

Hello again! Third chapter done! Yay! Thanks for all the comments, they're greatly appreciated. I thought that I was spelling Sasuke wrong, thanks for the correction. This chapter is slightly longer as the storys developing further. Let me know if you like it, you get a bit of Naruto's point of view in this one. Enjoy!

O

Kakashi stared.

"Naruto?" he said again as he studied the boys face more closely. There was no recognition in those wide eyes.

Blue eyes fixed on Kakashi he slid off the bed.

"What happened? How was I hurt?" Naruto said from across the room. His hand was resting on his shrunken holster strapped to his thigh.

"I'm sorry Naruto, it was an accident." Kakashi said most unlike his usual calm self.

"What do you mean? Why were you waiting here, are you a teacher?" Naruto questioned suspiciously as he glared at the white haired jounin.

Now it was Kakashi's turn to stare.

"Naruto I'm _your_ teacher." Kakashi said in disbelief as he stared at the boy.

"No your not! Master Iruka is my teacher." Naruto cried, point blank refusing Kakashi's answer, but as soon as the words had left his mouth he looked uncertain before continuing in a quiet voice no longer looking at Kakashi: "Well, he was my teacher…"

Naruto's features portrayed complete confusion as he stared off into space just past Kakashi.

"_He doesn't remember…"_

Making no sudden movements Kakashi walked over to the door and stuck his head out into the corridor. The nurse that had turned on the light was coming back up the corridor towards him. Upon seeing him she smiled.

"Excuse me, I need you to get the Hokage immediately, tell her it's to do with Naruto." Kakashi said clearly.

The nurse simply stared at Kakashi.

"This is very important, can you get her?" Kakashi said testily, the only sign of his anger was the narrowing of his eye.

"Yes, of course." She replied nodding instantly as she snapped back into life.

She quickly reeled off a number of hand seals before disappearing in a white cloud.

For a second Kakashi stared numbly as he wondered _"Could she be a member of the ANBU?" _it wasn't unheard of for them to have other professions, and the ability to heal was highly valued…

Turning back into the room he saw that Naruto had moved to the opposite side of the room to him so he stood by the window. He was watching Kakashi darkly with a look on his face that he wasn't sure he liked.

"What do you mean…_her_?" he said slowly. "What happened to the old man?"

Kakashi froze. Naruto had been very fond of the fourth Hokage but he didn't seem to remember that he was dead…

"What! What happened!" Naruto cried half shouting, half pleading.

The room was silent as the blond haired teen stood glaring furiously at Kakashi. The unpleasant silence stretched out.

Kakashi wasn't going to tell him, not when he didn't remember, it would just make the situation worse.

_POOF_

White cloud burst into being in the middle room in between Naruto and Kakashi, breaking their stare.

The cloud cleared as Tsunade stepped forward looking between Naruto and the jounin.

"What's the matter Kakashi?" she asked raising an eyebrow as she turned away from Naruto.

Barely louder then a whisper Kakashi said close to Tsunade's ear: "He doesn't seem to remember much. He thinks Iruka is still his sensei."

Receiving a startled look from Tsunade Kakashi looked away guiltily.

"Who are you people and what's going on! Where's old man Hokage!" Naruto almost shouted at Tsunade and Kakashi.

Kakashi had heard how stubborn Naruto had been towards Tsunade when she had accepted to be Hokage and he had the feeling that he was about to see a re-enactment of it for himself.

"I am the Hokage." Tsunade said impressively as she jabbed herself in the chest with her thumb.

"No your not." Naruto said strangely calm. "Where's the old man!"

Tsunade stared.

"Sandamine is dead. I am the fifth Hokage." She said blankly.

"No…no. I don't know what's going on but I don't believe you." Naruto growled.

Without warning Naruto sprang into motion, pushing the window open next to him before jumping out of it…into the flower bed that ran around the hospital walls. Without looking around Naruto disappeared as he leapt upwards.

Kakashi was about to move forwards when Tsunade stopped him by placing her hand on his shoulder.

"No. I want you to follow him but not yet. I want you to tell Iruka as well as any other teachers you cross that Naruto has sustained memory loss. I want him calmed down, which is why you must get Iruka as he will be a familiar face to him, and then bring him to my office. I think I know what has happened but I'm going to talk with the healers here first." Tsunade said as she removed her hand. Taking a step towards the door she paused turning to Kakashi once again. Over her shoulder she said:

"Only fight when you have to."

And with that she was gone.

"Your homework is to practise your stealth. Pair up and take it in turns to follow each other for as long as you can without being detected. Dismissed." Iruka called over the hubbub of scraping stools, rustling and general muttering.

Watching as his class streamed though the door, his attention was drawn to a figure standing just inside the door way.

"Kakashi! How are you?" Iruka asked smiling as he moved forward, the room now empty.

"Uh, I'm fine. Your teaching late aren't you?" Kakashi said as he unfolded his arms.

"There was an incident with a stink bomb and several shrunken. I'll leave it at that. They were all in detention." He said wearily.

"Unfortunately Iruka, I'm not here for a chat. Naruto has sustained memory loss. He still thinks that the 3rd is alive and that you're his teacher. He didn't recognise Tsunade or me." Kakashi paused to let this sink in. "The 5th asked me to gain your help along with as many other free teachers as possible to find Naruto."

"How did this happen?" Iruka asked with genuine concern.

"Everything will be explained later. Now we need get the other teachers who aren't on missions." Kakashi said emotionlessly but he felt his guilt rise in him once again at what he had done, though all the worse when he had seen Iruka's worried eyes.

"Alright, let's go. I think there's a couple of people still hanging around, I defiantly saw Gai."

Sighing Kakashi led the way out of the class room.

Under the inky sky a figure was lit by moonlight as it leapt from roof top to roof top. Pausing the figure turned to make sure it wasn't being followed, the silvery light revealing a mass of blond hair, a pair of gleaming blue eyes.

Distracted, Naruto ran his fingers through his hair as he stared vacantly.

Once he had got a distance from the hospital he had taken to walking through the streets. Even though it was after dark there were still plenty of people out and about though most were older ninjas. He couldn't help but notice the way their eyes lingered on his face. Was it his imagination or was he being watched?

They knew…

Gripping the front of his jacket, he'd dropped his eyes.

They knew about the Kyuubi…

Feeling uncomfortable Naruto had slipped down a darkened side ally. Checking that no one was watching he pressed his hands together before muttering 'Henge!'

Out of the white cloud stepped a girl with long blond hair, which was tied up in bunchies, with large blue eyes wearing a matching orange jacket and trousers with blue ninja sandals.

"_At least no one will stare at me now_…" Naruto thought darkly as he walked out of the ally into the well lit street.

How wrong he had been.

Walking along the street as this beautiful girl the suspicious staring had stopped to be replaced by a different type. He had the younger of the male ninjas (though all were far older then him) staring at him. He even got winked at by one!

Casting them a frightened look Naruto sped up when in front of him a man with long bushy white hair was thrown out into the street from what seemed to be a bar.

"I didn't mind the broken furniture, Jairiya, but I will not subject my waitresses to your company any longer!" came a shout from an unseen person in the bar doorway.

The door clicked shut as the white haired man stumbled upright.

Naruto kept walking forwards trying to ignore the man up ahead of him but found his way blocked.

Stopping Naruto looked up to find the white haired man looking down at him with a strange smile on his face. His cheeks were rosy and he smelt like a brewery.

"Have we met before?" the man said as he placed an arm around Naruto's shoulders.

"GET OFF ME PERVERT!" Naruto cried in disgust.

Ducking under the man's arm Naruto kicked out, hitting the white haired man in the jewels. With a groan he sank to his knees.

Naruto was about to storm away when the man called out to him.

"Wait…is that…Naruto?" he gasped.

Frozen to the spot Naruto looked over his shoulder at the man.

"Ha! It is! Just you wait 'til I get my hands on you!" he growled furiously.

Without saying a word Naruto ran, releasing the jitsu as he turned the corner.

After that he had simply stayed off the streets.

Who were these people? The guy with one eye, the woman who said she was Hokage, that perverted man with the white hair…he'd recognised Naruto even when he'd disguised himself with a jitsu.

What was going on? He felt so disorientated. Nothing made any sense.

"Yo." Said a voice behind him, snapping him out of his confused thoughts as though he had just been dowsed with a bucket of icy water.

Turning around slowly he knew what he'd see.

His white hair glossed by the silver moonlight, creating a dramatic silhouette. It was Mr. One eye…again.

Next to him stood someone he hadn't seen so far, a man dressed all in black wearing a bandana forehead protector and sunglasses even though it was dark.

Taking a step back he felt his eye twitch. If he didn't get some answers soon he didn't know what he would do.

O

Authors Rant:

Yeah, I was quite tired when I wrote this so sorry if there are many mistakes.

There's randomness yet to come!

Thanx again!


	4. Chapter 4

Yes, hello once again! Before you read this I would like to point out an error of mine where I said at the top of the first chapter: "its set somewhere after Tsnade becoming Hokage and Saske leaving to go to Orochimaru." What I meant to say was after Tsunade was hokage but BEFORE Sasuke left to go to Orochimaru. I'm saying this now coz it's important as the next chapter will include all of team 7 so Sasuke will be there. I realised this mistake a while ago but I'm too lazy to take down that chapter to change one word. That's the kinda person I am.

Sorry for such a long rant straight away! Thank you again for all the comments. I've made this chapter longer on request (it's prob not much longer but I tried --")and yes, Sasuke, Sakura as well as the other characters will be introduced into the story soon!

Thanx again! Enjoy!

O

O

O

Chapter 4

"Naruto-Kun! You must remember me, your elite teacher Ebisu!" the man wearing the sunglasses said as he smiled in possibly the most annoyingly smug way ever.

"_I don't know this guy but I don't like him!"_ Naruto thought as his eye twitched again. _"How many teachers have I had!"_

They seemed to be waiting for a reply but when they didn't get one Kakashi tried instead to talk to Naruto:

"Naruto." He said softly when the boy suddenly cut across him, breaking his silence, only to completely ignore Kakashi.

"Ebisu? Hm. Ebisu. Ebisu." Naruto muttered over and over to himself whilst watching them through narrowed eyes.

The two teachers shared a quick glance at this strange chant Naruto was reciting to himself.

Naruto felt like the name was a feather tickling his brain. He almost had it, he could…almost…remember…

Naruto fell silent as his chanting gave way to a strained expression. As though hypnotised by his strange behaviour they continued to watch.

"I know I know you, and I don't think I like you…" Naruto said shrewdly as he pointed at Ebisu as he watched him through narrowed eyes.

He couldn't be sure but Naruto thought he saw the man twitch out of anger at this comment.

"Impertinence! I'll teach you to respect your superiors!" Ebisu said angrily but Naruto was staring at him with open mouth, his eyes the size of dinner plates.

"I remember you!" he said before his face twisted into a smile of pure evil. "You're the closet pervert!"

Pressing his hands together Naruto crossed his fingers in the hand seal for Kage Bunshin no jitsu.

Crying out the name of the move four clones appeared, two on each side of Naruto. Still smiling the real Naruto remained motionless as the four clones pressed their hands together as though molding charkra.

"Henge!" the clones cried in unison and suddenly Naruto was flanked by four beautiful naked blond girls!

Together the giggling clones dived forward, two latching onto Ebisu and two onto Kakashi.

"Sayonara baka!" Naruto laughed as he pulled out a smoke bomb. Throwing it on the ground he disappeared into the cloud of white, leaving Ebisu and Kakashi to deal with the clones.

Leaping into the darkness, his humour didn't last long. He remembered the guy with the sunglasses, Ebisu, so did that mean he knew the other people who had approached him?

From the moment he had woken up he had not thought, he'd acted only on impulse.

As though the dawning memory of Ebisu had been a trigger Naruto felt himself drawn into his memory…

The last thing he remembered solidly was graduating the academy but he knew he was older then that, he felt older then that. He didn't know what but he felt as though something was missing between then…and now.

Jumping from the roof of a building Naruto landed in the darkened street below. Turning to his left Naruto was about to run when a kuni struck the wall behind him as it flew past, inches from his face.

Looking up he saw no one. The rooftops were empty, the streets still, but there was the kuni as solid as ever sticking out of the brick wall.

His eyes wide, Naruto scanned the darkness before running the in the opposite direction.

He didn't know why he was running; he wasn't going to leave the village. He didn't know where he was going.

"_What's going on!"_ he mentally screamed.

What he really wanted right now was a friendly face but he hadn't had many of those when he had graduated…

He could go home but if they knew who he was then they'd defiantly know where he lived, if he still lived in the same place since he'd graduated.

There was no point, he couldn't get away. He was being followed.

The ally forked in front of him.

Without warning numerous shrunken flew out of the darkness, this time directly at him. Naruto was forced to leap back into the mouth of the right fork to avoid being hit. Without stopping Naruto sprinted onwards down the new street. This continued, each time there was a new turn off he was herded by dodging the shrunken and kuni as they flew at him, each time only offering one path of escape.

In his confusion, as he ran from this unseen foe, Naruto didn't realise he was being forced down a pre-decided path.

He was being led round in a circle through the back ally's away from the main streets.

Eventually out of breath Naruto stood resting at the base of the cliff where the Hokages faces were carved.

"_Even they've changed."_ He thought sadly as he looked up.

There was a crack across the 3rd Hokage's face. How long had it been there? How had it happened?

Slowly Naruto looked over his shoulder, turning to face away from the stern stone faces.

He didn't know how long they had been there but there were more of them then before.

Behind him stood the ninja with one eye from before as well as the one who was stupidly wearing sunglasses in the dark. Ebisu, that perverted moron. He had been the whole reason Naruto had used his 'Sexy no jitsu' as he remembered using it on him before.

But there was more then just the two this time. There was some weirdo wearing green spandex with them. With an effort Naruto pulled away his gaze. That spandex was way too revealing, it was like witnessing some horrible accident, no matter how much you tried to look away your eyes were always drawn back.

He felt confused angry and tired, not to mention hungry. He didn't know who these people were or what was going on. He'd been chased all the way around the village by having knives and things thrown at him from every angle, and now he was trapped, his back was literally up against the wall.

Through his anger and confusion Naruto felt something hot rising up through him.

"What do you want?" Naruto growled, his voice harsher then usual.

"You've got to come with us, the Hokage wants to speak to you." The white haired one said.

"That foolish woman's not the Hokage." He snarled.

"You will be respectful to the great Tsunade!" The spandex clad ninja declared.

Stepping forward Naruto felt the heat spread all the way through him.

As he stepped forward his eyes turned scarlet, his pupils were vertical slits.

A shape shot through the darkness, leaping from a rooftop to land next to Kakashi.

"Naruto stop!" cried a familiar voice.

Squinting he took a step towards this new person. That voice, could it be…

"Master Iruka?" Naruto questioned.

"It's me Naruto; please calm down, no one intends to harm you." Iruka said stepping forward so Naruto could see him more clearly.

For the first time since waking Naruto felt calm and strangely relieved.

They could all see Naruto clearly as the light behind them shone on him.

His eyes faded from red back to blue as he felt his energy fading.

One moment there had been a bristling Naruto before them with the Kyuubi's scarlet eyes…now there stood the boy they all knew.

Wide eyed and innocent he shook his head.

"What the hell is going on!" he cried

Naruto passively allowed himself to be taken to the Hokage's office without speaking.

"Wow. Tsunade was right." Kakashi thought. If Iruka hadn't caught up to them Naruto would certainly have fought. The mere appearance of his old sensei had stopped the Kyuubi's charkra.

The boy now sat in the chair in front of the Hokages desk facing Tsunade on the other side. The other jounin stood around the edges of the room whilst Iruka fidgeted over to one side as he watched the blond teen.

"Where's old man Hokage?" Naruto asked stubbornly.

"I am the current Hokage. Sadimane is dead." Tsunade said as she rested her hands in front of her on the desk.

Naruto simply stared, his large cerulean eyes expressing unspoken sadness.

"The old man…dead?"

"Look, Naruto. I know you're confused and that this is all a shock to you but deep down you already know all of this." The Hokage paused as she studied the boy's face. "What is the last thing you remember?

This caused Naruto's head to snap up sharply as his eyes narrowed with anger.

"The last thing I remember is waking up in hospital with this weirdo (jabs thumb over his shoulder at Kakashi) sitting there watching me. Next thing I know some old pervert is coming onto me then I'm getting shrunken thrown at me from every angle!" he snarled before folding his arms and turning his face away.

Seeing Tsunade twitch with anger Iruka moved forward quickly before either of them could erupt.

Placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder Iruka said: "What's the last thing you remember before today Naruto."

The boy's face softened but he did not move.

"Graduating the academy." He said quietly.

"I remember him a bit too" Naruto said as he pointed at Ebisu.

Tsunade flicked through the pages of a file in front of her on the desk.

"Do you remember how you graduated?" Tsunade asked looking up from the pages.

"Yes." He said sulkily.

He could feel their eyes upon him. He had never spoken about his graduation with anyone. Was this woman, the 'Hokage' about to share it with everyone in the room? He sincerely hoped not.

"Then…you remember what's inside you?" she said seriously, her eyes pinning him down.

Immediately he dropped his gaze from Tsunades unable to bear looking at her. She knew what he was, they all did. He could feel their eyes on him.

"…'s" Naruto muttered in confirmation, barely audible.

"Ok. This is the situation. During a sparring match Kakashi's Sharingan advanced to become the Mangekyou Sharingan. Naruto suffered a server psychological attack. It seems that even though he has been healed Naruto's mind has repressed the majority of his memories to protect him. This is because what Kakashi unknowingly forced Naruto to witness was the sealing of the Kyuubi. I don't know why he's lost such a large section of his memory but I'm confident that he will regain it over time. It was upon seeing Ebisu-san that he remembered their first meeting. Hopefully such prompts will trigger his memories." Tsunade paused as she watched over her steepled fingers.

"Iruka could you please escort Naruto home. I'll brief you later." Tsunade said to Iruka. Turning to Naruto she continued: "Naruto, you must be accompanied by someone at all times. Due to your memory loss you don't know what danger you're in. Go home and someone will come for you in the morning."

Without looking once at the Hokage Naruto got up, emphasizing his disrespect as he sharply turned his back on Tsunade he walked to the door. Iruka bowed slightly to the Hokage before following Naruto out of the office.

"Naruto must always be accompanied even if it's not any of you or the other teachers then a chuunin or his team mates. Atsuki are still after him and with him not remembering half of his ninja career he will be ignorant of many things. He also may not remember the jitsu's he has learnt since then so he will be more vulnerable then ever." Tsunade said seriously into their silence.

With a grim expression on her face the Hokage closed Naruto's folder.

"This will prove to be more troublesome then first expected." Tsunade sighed. "Kakashi, as his teacher I want you to keep an eye on him. I'll let you deal with explaining the situation to his team mates Sasuke and Sakura. That is all."

And with that the group of jounin's took their leave.

Lying in his darkened room Naruto did not sleep. Staring at the star spangled night sky through his window he suffered the misery of exhaustion without the relief of sleep. It was with the rising of the sun that sleep finally came for him.

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(Another) Author Rant

I'm sorry if that chapter seemed slow, it was slow to write. I'm making up for the lack of action in the next chapter! Once again, let me know what you think ;)


	5. Chapter 5

Hello again. New chapter, new characters! The story is slowly getting there! Thanks for all the comments and the corrections of the ninja weapons spellings. Hope you like it! Let me know what you think!

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Chapter 5

It was before dawn. The sky was a delicate tint of grey but the mild air held a promise of a beautiful day to come.

A solitary figure stood at a memorial in the grey light.

His hands in his pockets, Kakashi stared paying his respects to the dead.

He'd arrived earlier then usual that morning as he had to meet Sasuke and Sakura.

The Hokage had agreed that it would be wise to keep his development of the Mangekyou Sharingan to themselves. The other teachers who knew from the brief the night before had been instructed like wise. There was no need to draw unwanted attention to Kakashi, you never could tell whose ears news reached. Tsunade was thinking of Itachi being the only known person to be able to use it, she didn't want him to see Kakashi as in competition or a threat to him.

Saying a final prayer Kakashi turned away from the memorial, heading to meet two of his students.

He was meeting the pair outside the academy. He didn't see any point in making them go far just to find out he wasn't training with them today. He was going to fill them in on Naruto's situation, only what they needed to know mind, before going to get the boy. He was counting on Naruto's habit of sleeping late to get to his house before he woke.

Sakura wouldn't over react to the news, he didn't think...no, if either of them were going to cause him problems it would be Sasuke. He would be the one asking awkward questions.

Grimly Kakashi walked on as the sun rose behind him, casting his lengthened shadow before him.

It was going to be a rough day.

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Shutting the door behind him Sasuke walked out into the morning sunshine. Turning, he set off towards the ninja academy to meet Kakashi with the rest of team 7.

_Damn Naruto._

Kakashi had blown off all training yesterday to spend the entire day with Naruto. He'd grow stronger since he went away with Jariya. One of the senin…

Why had someone so strong taken interest in Naruto?

But he wasn't the only one.

Uchia Itachi.

His brother.

He'd come to Konoha solely for Naruto…

Something was going on and he was going to find out what.

His onyx eyes shone darkly.

"Sasuke-kun!" a voice cried distantly.

_Great._

Putting his hands in his pockets he fought the urge to walk faster.

You'd have thought she'd got the hint by now.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cried as she dropped into step next to him, panting lightly.

For a moment she merely walked along side him silently as she caught her breath, then the one person convocation began…

"Isn't it a lovely day? I hope we don't have to do anything too difficult or boring" Sakura chatted happily, though to herself. She was just being cheerful but as always it was wasted on Sasuke.

Turning the corner the academy came into view. Sasuke passed a quick glance over it, not expecting to see anyone, certainly not a white haired jounin.

He did a double take.

_What! Kakashi early?_

Leaning against a wall in the shade was indeed Kakashi and for once without a 'come come paradise' book in his hand.

No sign of Naruto though.

Sasuke suppressed a smile.

_The dobe had probably had his ass kicked yesterday; bet he's still in bed recovering._

Funny enough, Sasuke wasn't far from the truth.

Kakashi looked up as they approached. Sakura had finally fallen silent.

"Yo." Kakashi said in his usual manor.

"It's not like you Kakashi-sensei to be early." Sakura said quietly in a way that was almost a question.

"Well, I didn't want to keep you waiting for nothing." He said from where he leant against the wall. "As there's not going to be any training or missions today."

"Why not?" Sasuke asked. His face emotionless as though he'd been carved from marble.

"Well, I've got some unfortunate news to tell you about Naruto." Kakashi sighed. "Yesterday when I was sparring Naruto, he was injured-"

_Hah!_

"-and has a significant amount of memory loss."

_Huh?_

Kakashi paused to allow his words to sink in.

"The last thing he remembers properly is graduating from the academy." Kakashi said sadly as his visible eye looked between the two.

Sakura stood wide eyed with her hands over her mouth.

"Is he ok?" Sakura whispered after a pause.

Kakashi smiled sadly. "He was well enough to run around half of Konoha last night as well as attacking Ebisu and me." Looking at their stunned faces he explained a bit further. "He didn't meet me or Ebisu until he was put into team 7 and so has no memory of us. You are both welcome to visit him. He'll remember the both of you as you were in his class but I wouldn't recommend doing that today."

"How did it happen?" Sasuke asked coldly.

"The Hokage isn't sure but it seems he will just regain his memory over time."

_He's hiding something again. People don't lose their memory from injuries sustained in sparring matches!_

"You two are free to do as you will today. I'm sorry but I have to go." Kakashi said. From where he still stood leaning on the wall Kakashi disappeared in a white cloud.

For a while the two were silent, though for very different reasons.

"Isn't that awful Sasuke? I think I'll buy him some flowers to give him." Sakura said sadly.

"I've got to go. I'll see you." Sasuke said without looking at her.

He didn't believe a word of this. Someone was lying.

Turning away Sasuke walked back towards the main part of town. He would keep watch out for Naruto all day if he had to. There was something that had been going on around Naruto for a while, and he was going to find out what.

"BYE SASUKE-KUN!" Sakura cried from somewhere behind him.

Cringing he picked up his pace.

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Groggily Naruto sat down at his table. Picking up his chop sticks he started to eat his instant ramen.

_Mmm nothing better then instant ramen for breakfast._

He had to get out of his house soon. The 'Hokage' had said someone would come for him in the morning. He wanted to be gone by then. It was still quite early. Too early. Did people really get up at such unholy hours?

Leaving his rubbish on the table Naruto got up and went for a wash.

Who would have thought Konoha would have changed so much so quickly? It was depressing.

Having finished washing Naruto went out the back door.

He wanted to get a look at the town before whoever it was who would be coming for him got there.

He wanted to see what else had changed.

With an effort he focused.

He didn't want to be recognised by anyone because the chances were he wouldn't remember them.

Pressing his hands together he cried "Henge!"

The cloud cleared to reveal his female transformation he used for Sexy no Jutsu (but wearing his clothes) except he'd made the hair brown.

That should make sure that no one recognised him.

Walking down the fire exit stairs he froze.

He'd heard knocking. Was it his front door?

Silently he broke into a run.

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Kakashi knocked again before letting himself in. He didn't fancy being attacked by a confused and angry Naruto first thing in the morning, so it was best to give him some warning.

It was empty. He didn't even have to look around to tell Naruto wasn't home. It just had that feel. He couldn't sense the boy's prescence here.

Reeling off a list of hand seals Kakashi disappeared.

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The streets were just starting to get busy as Naruto walked amongst the people, looking at the shops. Nothing seemed especially different. The colours maybe.

Mostly he was too preoccupied with his current form.

No one was looking at him, or deliberately _not_ looking at him. No whispering. No pointing. It was wonderful just to blend in.

He saw a couple of people his own age but he didn't recognise them.

He didn't recognise anyone.

Sighing he resumed looking around. He was bored of this already.

Then his eyes landed on one of the most heavenly places! The ramen stall! It was still there!

He was about to literally run over there and pig out, he knew he had some money in his pocket, he didn't even care that he'd just had breakfast.

Then he heard someone call him.

"Yo, Naruto."

It was very close.

Panicking he didn't know what to do. Last time he'd been recognised like this it had been that weird old man. He could pretend he hadn't heard, that it wasn't him…but if they'd called out then they must know its him…

Turning slowly he looked over his shoulder.

"Yo." Kakashi said smiling where he stood right behind him over to one side.

For a second he simply stared then…

"Ahhh!" Naruto cried from shock before running straight ahead.

"No-wait! Naruto!" Kakashi said before sweat dropping.

He'd been right then, it was Naruto.

Sighing, Kakashi broke into a jog after the crazy brunette running ahead of him.

Yeah, today was defiantly going to be a bad day.

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Sasuke was walking along with his hands in his pockets, scanning the crowd for either Naruto or Kakashi's face. He wasn't far from the ramen stall, he was going to check there first, it was one of the most likely places to find Naruto if you were ever looking for him.

That's when he heard it.

"Ahhh!"

It was a girl's scream but it sounded familiar…

In the street ahead of him he saw a girl with long brown hair wearing an orange jumpsuit run past out of sight. A second later the girl's pursuer appeared. Kakashi obvious due to his brilliant white hair ran past in pursuit of the girl.

Sasuke stared for a moment before turning around.

He knew his teacher was obsessed with those perverted books but he didn't want to see him re-enacting any of them.

Sasuke walked away without looking back. He would find Naruto later. There were just something's you weren't meant to see.

Your teacher acting like a pervert was one of them.

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Naruto had finally lost him. He was sitting at the top of the cliff where he was able to look down and see the hair, foreheads and noses of the faces of the Hokages.

It had taken a couple of clones, a number of transformations and a lot of speed but he had finally got away from the white haired ninja.

He was exhausted though. At one point it felt like he'd been going to faint! He'd only got about one hours sleep; he'd been doing quite a bit of running last night too!

Leaning back he propped himself up with one arm as he wiped his brow with his free hand.

Someone was sitting next to him.

He hadn't seen them as his arm had blocked his sight from that eye.

Slowly Naruto turned to stare in a mixture of horror and disbelief at the man next to him. It was the ninja with white hair and one eye.

He hadn't even heard him!

"I'm getting worried Naruto, you take that form too often." Kakashi hinted darkly

Snapping out of it Naruto glared at the nin.

"At least I'm not stared at like this. But you wouldn't understand that." Naruto said angrily.

For a moment they were both silent, Naruto staring straight ahead angrily, still a girl, whilst Kakashi watched him.

"Ok. So who are you?" Naruto finally asked turning to his sensei.

"Your teacher."

"Pff! Like that's a lot of good! What's your name?" Naruto snapped but his heart wasn't really in it. He was tired of running, he'd much rather talk.

"Kakashi."

"And what's going on?" Naruto asked

"You heard what the Hokage said last night didn't you?" Kakashi asked uneasily. He was going to have to explain what he did to him…

"Funny enough I didn't hear what she said. I was still getting over the fact that I'm missing a huge chunk of my memory as well as having been chased around in the dark by a load of weirdo's!"

"I'll explain everything on two conditions." Kakashi said emotionlessly.

"What are they?" Naruto asked a little worried.

"First you have to listen to what I am saying all the way through without getting up, running around or getting angry." Kakashi said firmly

_Was what he had to say that bad?_

"Yeah, ok. What's the second?"

"Second is that I'm not going to talk to you when you're a girl. Release that jutsu." Kakashi said. He was getting worried, not just about Naruto for him continuing to turn into a girl but he was also worried about himself. Naruto was a very pretty girl.

"Fine." Naruto said rolling his eyes. A white cloud hid him, blowing away to unveil the real Naruto.

Taking a deep breath Kakashi started to explain.

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Authors Rant

So how's it going? I'm not sure about this chapter. Let me know what you think.

Thanx!


	6. Chapter 6

Hello hello! I hope everyone's ok! Another chapter done! Thank you to those who reviewed, it's greatly appreciated! It's interesting to know what you're thinking.

I don't know how you'll find this chapter; to me it just feels as though its building up to the next chapter.

Enjoy:p

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Chapter 6

An empty silence fell between the two.

Kakashi felt awful.

Naruto had been as good as his word. He'd remained quite and still though what he had to say. He went further then that, he'd been asking Kakashi detailed questions.

He wanted Naruto to say something, anything.

"_What is the Mangekyou Sharingan?" Naruto had asked after a long silence._

_Shocked Kakashi looked up. Oh no…_

"…_Mangekyou Sharingan forces the victim to see whatever the user wants them to."_

"_And…what did I see?" Naruto said slowly, the effort clear in his voice._

_Kakashi watched Naruto's face as the boy drew his gaze away from the town below them to find his only exposed eye._

_He didn't want to say. He didn't want Naruto to hate him, but looking into his clear and trusting eyes Kakashi sighed. If he kept this to himself it would be solely for selfish reasons. At the moment he owed Naruto anything he could give him, and if this piece of information could help him remember then he had no choice…_

He had told Naruto what he had been forced to witness.

The silence from that moment continued to stretch onwards, horribly awkward and guilt filled for Kakashi whilst Naruto sat seemingly lost in thought as he stared at the ground in front of him.

"Do you hate me?" Naruto said in a deadened voice.

Kakashi went cold.

"No, I've never hated you!" Kakashi said shocked.

Reaching out he put his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Naruto…you don't understand. You won't remember what it was like then, on that night. Everyone was in despair. The Kyuubi was attacking Konoha. There was nothing anyone could do, they were just trying to slow the Kyuubi down to buy the Hokage some time, he was the only one who could stop it." Kakashi paused. "Everyone was afraid of this thing that could not be stopped or harmed. Then it was sealed in you. People were afraid. The thing that had almost destroyed Konoha was now sleeping inside a young boy that lived within their town. It had made everyone so afraid that their fear didn't just go away. Their fear targeted you even though you didn't deserve it. Nothing can excuse what you were put though."

Naruto remained silent but Kakashi could tell he was still listening.

"But people see you Naruto, not the Kyuubi. Iruka, Sadamine, Ebisu, Jariya – (he was the white haired pervert, no don't look at me like that) – Tsunade, myself. The adults from that night know what's in you Naruto and they don't care. You're a good guy."

A weak smile curved the corner of on Naruto's mouth.

"I, I was always on my own. I didn't know why. All I knew was that I was different. Hated. But I didn't know why, and that was the worst thing I think." Naruto said hoarsely.

"You don't remember now but you have friends. There was this one guy, Gaara of the sand. Strange guy. He also had a demon within him. They were attacking Konoha but you stopped him before he joined the fight. You even made friends with him in a way." Kakashi said quietly smiling at the memory.

Naruto looked up. From the curve of his visible eye he could tell Kakashi was smiling.

For a while silence fell again but it was a different kind, lighter, easier, but still…he had never known the boy had been so alone. He had no friends.

None.

How had he survived? It was hard to believe that his first real friend had been Iruka.

No parents, no friends as well as being hated and feared. It was amazing that Naruto was even civil.

"So, when did I meet you?" Naruto asked as he ran his gaze over the town below them before turning to look at Kakashi. A spark of his old self seemed to have returned, only slightly, but it made Kakashi happy to see it.

"Huh. I became your teacher shortly after the academy graduation. At first you all looked like a bunch of anti-social misfits. You'd wedged a chalk eraser in the sliding door which hit me the moment I walked in." Kakashi said normally but he was secretly smiling as he looked sideways at Naruto trying to seem stern.

"Well, I don't remember that but your impression on me yesterday wasn't too great either. I dunno whether you realise this or not but with the mask and the one eye you look kinda freaky." Naruto laughed.

For a long time they were silent again. Naruto staring out over Konoha whilst Kakashi watched him from the corner of his eye.

"So. What now?" Naruto asked.

"There's no training today but it will be back to normal tomorrow. Getting back to normal might help you remember." Kakashi said, could almost visibly see Naruto's spirits fall.

"Your team's ok. You remember Sasuke and Sakura don't you?" Kakashi asked slyly. He'd never got to see any of his team's reaction when they first met each other.

"Wow! Sakura! But Sasuke! Awww." Naruto cried flicking between excited and depressed.

As Naruto went off on a rant to himself which basically included saying his team mates names over and over again, torn between pleased and disappointed Kakashi was drawn into thought again.

He was so resilient. He'd been wrong before when he thought he'd never seen Naruto sad. He'd been upset plenty of times, he just didn't dwell on it. He looked on the bright side.

"Naruto, how about I treat you to some Ramen? I'm sure Iruka wouldn't mind after the damage you've done to his bank balance." Kakashi said interrupting Naruto's ramblings.

That certainly stopped Naruto in his tracks.

"YAY! Ramen!" was the deafening cry that burst from his mouth, echoing out over Konoha.

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"Huh. Did you hear something?" the old man asked as he served a customer his noodles. Shaking his head the guy tucked into his meal greedily.

"I could have sworn I heard Naruto…"

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"Iesikmidas!" Naruto cried before he began to slurp up his blow of Ramen.

Kakashi wasn't eating anything himself, he never ate in public as it meant he had to pull down his mask.

Just looking at Naruto was making him full. He was on his sixth bowl but he was gulping it down like he hadn't eaten in a week!

Draining his bowl Naruto put it down with a satisfied sigh.

"Ah! I'm full. Ramen is so good!" he said as he stretched. "Why didn't you have anything to eat Kakashi?"

Seeing the narrowed eye as the jounin turned towards him Naruto stuttered in haste to correct himself: "I mean, Kakashi sensei!"

"I'm not particularly hungry." Kakashi said simply. Even if Naruto's disturbing eating habits hadn't put him off he wouldn't have eaten anyway.

It was dark already. The day had passed reasonably quickly from meeting Sasuke and Sakura, to chasing around after Naruto. They'd sat at the top of the Hokage cliff too for quite a while.

He was really pleased with his chat with Naruto. He may not have regained any of his memory but Naruto had calmed down and was almost back to his old self, even if he didn't remember what that was.

Reaching forward Kakashi paid his bill.

"Arigoto gozimas sensei!" Naruto cried.

"Wait a minute Naruto. Do you know the clearing just inside the woods where a stone memorial stands? There are three wooden stumps near it." Kakashi enquired.

"Yeah, I know the place you mean." Naruto said slowly.

"You're to be there first thing tomorrow for a day of training along with Sasuke and Sakura. Make sure you're there, ok?" Kakashi said as he watched his students face.

"I won't let you down!" Naruto smiled as he saluted.

"Good. I've got to go but I'll see you tomorrow morning. I suggest you go straight home." He said as he rose from his stool, leaving the warm light of the ramen stall before walking out into the evening air.

Getting up Naruto called "Thanks old man!" before he also disappeared into the darkness.

He wandered home in a kind of stupor. It had been a weird day. That morning he'd been chased by Kakashi in his female transformation all over Konoha but that evening he'd eaten ramen with him, so to speak. He hadn't actually eaten anything but that was beside the point.

Pushing open his front door Naruto walked into his darkened home, stumbling through the darkness feeling too lazy to turn on any lights.

Sitting on the edge of his bed he looked around his room. There was a picture frame sitting on the window ceil that he hadn't noticed the evening before.

Getting up Naruto turned on his bedroom light before turning back to the picture.

Picking up the picture he couldn't help but smile. There was Kakashi and himself. There was Sakura…ah, Sakura…

And _Sasuke_.

Putting the picture down Naruto closed his curtains before flopping down on his bed.

He had a feeling that tomorrow was going to be very interesting…

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Early morning sunshine flooded the clearing where Sasuke waited as the first member of team 7 to arrive. He knew Kakashi wouldn't arrive for at least a couple of hours but he didn't mind waiting alone.

Leaning against one of the wooden stumps Sasuke sighed.

Usually he was never this enthusiastic about training but he wanted to see Naruto. Kakashi had appeared briefly at his house last night to tell him where to meet and at what time, as well as saying that Naruto would be coming.

He couldn't wait to see Naruto.

The ghost of a smile touched upon his lips at this.

He wanted to fight Naruto to see how much he'd grow but to show that he would always be better, but would his loss of memory ruin the fight? He wanted Naruto at his best.

_I bet Kakashi won't let me fight him anyway._

Folding his arms he closed his eyes. The brilliant sunshine warmed his dark shirt and hair as he stood waiting for time to pass.

The sound of distant footsteps intruded upon his thoughts, causing him to open his eyes.

"Yo." Kakashi said as he approached.

Early once again and no sign of a book.

"You're early Sasuke." His sensei said as he leant against the stump next to him.

"So are you." Sasuke replied.

The two fell silent.

Sasuke noticed after a while that Kakashi was staring in the direction of the memorial that was nearby. He's seen him there a couple of times. That was probably why he was so early; it was a short walk from the memorial.

"Ohio gozimas!" they heard Sakura's voice cry.

Materialising out of the shrubbery she joined the other two over by the stumps where she took up sitting on the third one.

"So Naruto's defiantly coming today is he sensei?" Sakura asked.

For an answer Kakashi merely smiled, showing the curving of his eye. Turning to face a distant patch of trees Kakashi stared patiently. Curios Sasuke and Sakura turned to see what he was looking at.

The branches and shrubbery were rustling, with the odd muttered comment or swear. A bright orange shape emerged out of the green.

Before them they saw a rather anxious looking Naruto.

Tilting his head, Sasuke watched the blond through narrowed eyes.

He didn't seem any different.

"Yo, Naruto. You found it ok?" Kakashi said cheerfully from where he stood leaning against the centre stump.

"Er, yeah." Naruto replied vaguely as he pulled a twig out of his hair. Naruto's eyes flicked over the three in front of him. It was rather intimidating the way they were sitting on the stumps in a row, watching him…

"Now that we're all here I'll tell you what we'll be doing today. We'll start with some all round training, doing a couple laps around Konoha, and then I want you to take it in turns sparring each other." Kakashi said. He didn't fail to notice the eager looks upon the two boy's faces compared to Sakura's disappointed one.

_Yes, I'm going t get to fight Naruto._

Kakashi stared at them all for a moment longer before continuing:

"What are you waiting for? 3 laps around Konoha the return back here. Go!" Kakashi declared.

Turning uncertainly on the spot Naruto waited for Sasuke and Sakura to move ahead so he could follow them.

"Today's going to be interesting…" Kakashi mused before pulling a 'come come paradise' book out of his pocket to pass the time.

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Authors Rant:

I hope you found this chapter ok, I was trying to build it up for the next chapter where Naruto and Sasuke will have their first face off. I haven't written a detailed fight scene yet and so I'm a little worried : we'll see how it goes!

Thanks for reading:p until next time!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 ready to be read with Sasuke and Naruto's first confrontation! Thank you for reviewing! I haven't written any long-ish fight scenes before so let me know what you think. Thanks again and enjoy!

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Chapter 7

Seeing where Sasuke and Sakura were heading as they turned away from their sensei Naruto realised he knew where he was going. He would keep pace with them for the first lap at least just so he would know where he was going.

Looking uneasily between the two as they walked next to each other, Naruto picked up his pace, falling into step next to Sakura.

He only remembered Sasuke as being the best at everything. Everyone loved Sasuke, especially the girls.

"Like Sakura." He thought sadly.

Rising from his thoughts he realised that the two were watching him.

"Er…hi?" Naruto said stunned.

"How do you feel Naruto?" Sakura said cheerfully as she smiled, still managing to look concerned.

_Sakura was talking to him! And smiling!_

"I-I'm fine!" he replied still shocked.

Naruto stared at her for a second before he noticed what was so obviously different about the girl.

"Sakura, your hair's short!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Huh? Oh yeah. It's been short for ages." Sakura said casually.

"When I said 3 laps I meant running!" Kakashi called from behind them.

In unison they broke into a jog. Sasuke and Sakura at least knew that unless they wanted their number of laps to be doubled you start running.

"How's your temporal lobe, dobe?" Sasuke asked with a sneering smile.

Naruto watched him through narrowed eyes.

"Uchia Sasuke. Are you still a haughty bastard, or have you changed since the academy?" Naruto said, laughing as he saw the raven haired teens mirth fade.

The two boys' fell into silence where they ran either side of Sakura, glaring daggers across her at each other.

As though through an unspoken challenge the two boys began to run faster.

"Sasuke! Naruto! Stop acting stupid and slow down!" Sakura commanded.

Their gaze broke turning to look at her as they slowed to her pace.

Casting Naruto a dirty look Sakura turned to Sasuke.

An idea flashed across Naruto's mind. Slowly he pressed his hands together as though moulding charkra…

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"How are you today Sasuke-Kun? You're a little quite today." Sakura said turning to him. The one sided convocation was about to begin yet again, as it did every day. Looking over at Sakura, his eyes slid past her.

_What the hell! That moron!_

Unknown to Sakura she was flanked by Sasuke on either side.

Sasuke glared at Naruto, who had for some reason disguised himself to look like the Uchia.

As he watched, the copy of him began to pout and stroke its hair!

"What's the matter Sasuke-kun? You look very pale." Sakura asked suddenly.

Out of her sight Naruto released the jutsu laughing silently as one hand clutched his side.

Puzzled Sakura turned around panting lightly from running to give Naruto a curious look.

"What's wrong with you?" she said raising an eyebrow at the blond.

"N-Nothing" Naruto stuttered from suppressed laughter. "Just a stitch" he invented to explain why he was clutching his side.

They completed the first lap of Konoha in silence after that. Naruto smiling as he ran easily, without having to breathe hard. Sasuke ran with a menacing look on his face, throwing an icy glare Naruto's way every now and then for good measure. This was all going on either side of Sakura who had completely missed what had happened and accepted it was probably best not to ask.

Starting the second lap Naruto wanted to go faster now that he knew the way but when the other two showed no sign of speeding up he grudgingly kept pace with them.

Just when Naruto had started to sink back into his thoughts Sakura turned to him suddenly.

"Naruto…so how much do you remember?" she asked kindly.

That caught Sasuke's attention.

"I remember the academy to just after graduation." Naruto said. It felt strange to talk about it so casually when it still seemed so strange.

"What happened to you?" Sakura asked breathlessly, from either the running or out of interest he couldn't tell.

"Nothing." Naruto said more sharply then he intended.

This once again sparked Sasuke's interest. He was hiding something and he was determined to find out what.

"Well, what did they say to you? It must have been a shock?" Sakura questioned further.

"No, I was ok." Naruto lied. He wanted to get the convocation off this topic.

"That's not what I heard." Sasuke said as a smile played across his lips. "What was this about you attacking Kakashi and Ebisu, and then running around half of Konoha in the dark?"

Sasuke smiled at the anger and suspicion narrowing Naruto's eyes. He felt like he'd got him back for his earlier joke.

Naruto made no response as he sped up. Sasuke gladly matched his pace as unwillingly so did the bewildered Sakura.

The second lap passed in a blur of speed. Sasuke was starting to show signs of tiredness but Naruto ran onwards still breathing normally.

No, nothing had changed. Sasuke was still an annoying bastard, and Sakura was still obsessed with him. Oh well, if this was what his time with them had always been like then maybe his memories weren't worth remembering.

Halfway through the third lap Naruto was starting to feel the strain. Sakura seemed to be struggling with the pace whilst Sasuke panted lightly.

Throwing a look at Naruto, Sasuke smiled.

_I'll bring him down a couple of notches; put him back in his place._

Looking out the corner of his eye Naruto had to stop himself from laughing again at the image of Sasuke's face when he had taken on his form.

_I'm gunna kick his ass!_

With the two boys smiling to themselves, and Sakura gasping and choking, they finished their third lap.

Returning to the stumps they found Kakashi exactly where they'd left him immersed in his dirty book. He was giggling quietly to himself, with the slightest hint of a pinkish tinge creeping from under his mask.

Looking up he cleared his throat as he shut the book and slid it back into his pocket.

"Yo." He said still slightly pink. "Everyone warmed up for sparring?"

Sasuke and Naruto nodded. Sakura just sort of gasped. Noticing her due to her heavy breathing Kakashi turned to Sakura.

"I've arranged for you to train the rest of the day with Ino under Asuma's request. She's waiting for you outside the academy."

"What!" Sakura cried with horror

"I thought you'd appreciate some female company for once. You've got to go." Kakashi said sternly.

"Hai sensei." Sakura said sulkily as she glanced in Sasuke's direction before walking off into the trees.

Turning back to his remaining two students after Sakura had disappeared he smiled.

"I want you two to have a friendly sparring match then. Jutsu's can be used but nothing lethal. We are _not_ trying to kill each other." Kakashi said. "Try to focus on your taijutsu if you can, as that's what I really want to see."

Silently Kakashi wondered if this was too soon for Naruto.

Was Naruto ready for such a fight? He wasn't even sure if Naruto remembered any of his jutsu's, apart from his infamous sexy-no-jutsu. But surely the sooner things went back to normal the better. It might jog his memory.

"Square up and I'll tell you went to begin." Kakashi instructed.

There was plenty of room in the clearing; it should be enough space for them to move freely.

The boy's squared up. Sapphire eyes met Onyx.

"Begin." Kakashi said.

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Springing into action Naruto leapt forward, aiming to land a punch on Sasuke's prettyboy face.

With amazing speed Sasuke blocked the punch before sweeping Naruto's legs out from under him, finding nothing but air.

Naruto leapt upwards, flipping over Sasuke.

Twisting, Sasuke lashed out with a brutal kick, catching Naruto squarely in the chest as he landed.

Carried by the momentum of his jump combined with Sasuke's kick, Naruto flew backwards, tumbling along the ground.

"That the best you got?" Sasuke taunted, but Naruto was already rising.

Turning to face Sasuke Naruto ran forward once again.

Stepping easily to the side, Sasuke hit Naruto as hard as he cold with the blade of his hand at the base of his skull.

The impact floored Naruto.

"_Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea."_ Kakashi thought as Naruto landed face first in the dirt.

"So far you've spent most of your time on the ground." Sasuke commented as he looked down at the sprawled Naruto.

Leaping up furiously Naruto crossed his hands.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto cried.

Nine clones appeared alongside Naruto in puffs of white cloud.

In a blur of orange five of the clones flowed forward, leaping at Sasuke from different angles.

Sasuke remained where he was. He had enough time to take a deep breath before the clones reached him.

His right arm shot out, landing a punch squarely on the nose of one of the clones as he ducked a kick from another.

One down.

Placing his hand on the ground Sasuke lifted both of his feet in a double side kick, catching one viciously in the stomach.

Two down.

Feet back on the ground, he leapt up, flipping over the clone behind him punching it viciously in the back of the head as he landed.

Three down.

The remaining two of the five ran at him from opposite sides.

Closing his eyes Sasuke focused his charkra in his feet. Eyes shooting open Sasuke leapt upwards with amazing speed, turning on the spot in a ruthless spin kick. His foot made contact with one's head-

Four down.

-then the other. Together they fell to the ground, disappearing in two clouds.

Five down.

Flicking his hair out of his face Sasuke turned smiling to Naruto.

"I hope you can do better then that. You're acting like you're fresh from the academy."

Seething with anger Naruto gritted his teeth as he tried to think.

His mind cleared. He stared at Sasuke. There was something about the expression he wore.

This whole situation seemed familiar…those stumps…

"I'm waiting." Sasuke said coldly but Naruto didn't hear him.

No…he wasn't fighting Sasuke but Kakashi…

Then all at once the memory of team 7's survival training Kakashi had first put them through came flooding back into his mind.

1000 years of pain.

Naruto laughed softly. Its name was right at least.

Over there was the river he'd landed in…

He felt ready.

With his four remaining clones Naruto leapt forward.

The five Naruto's weaved in and out of each other as they approached.

Two of the clones ducked down to sweep Sasuke's feet from under him-

But he was already in the air, avoiding their attack. Two more clones closed in, one coming from the front, one behind.

Kicking out he caught the one in front, but still in mid jump he was unable to dodge the one attacking from behind.

A fist slammed into the back of his head with incredible force, leaving Sasuke reeling where he lay face down on the ground.

He heard one was behind him.

"One Thousand Years OF Pain!" he heard Naruto cry as something was shoved up his ASS!

Shooting forward indignantly Sasuke leapt to his feet seething with anger and disgust as he glared at the four remaining smiling Naruto's.

"Konoha's secret ninja technique, huh?" the blond laughed as he turned to look at Kakashi, a look of understanding passing between them.

"_He remembers that! That's progress at least, but what had triggered it?"_ Kakashi thought as he smiled behind his mask.

"Ahhh!" Sasuke shouted as he leapt forward in a rage, his movements a blur of speed.

"Sharingan!" he cried.

The onyx eyes shone scarlet.

A kick with the speed of a snake striking Sasuke destroyed one of the clones.

Naruto leapt to attack along with his two clones but the struck nothing but air. Sasuke weaved amongst their attacks like he had no bones, turning with smooth snake-like twists.

Grabbing on of the clones by it's wrists he lifted it from the ground, swinging it round to strike the other clone. Together they disappeared leaving the real Naruto with a very angry looking Sasuke.

Grabbing Naruto by the front of his jacket Sasuke began to pummel Naruto, switching between the boys face and stomach.

Blood began to run freely from the corner of his mouth as Naruto gasped, winded.

Suddenly Kakashi stood next to them.

"That's enough I think Sasuke." Kakashi said casually.

Looking up at his sensei Sasuke released the Sharingan, dropping the front of Naruto's jacket.

Naruto stood firmly enough but he coughed awkwardly before wiping the blood from his mouth.

Naruto stood watching Sasuke with a strange expression on his face before breaking into a smile.

"Good fight." Naruto said.

"Whatever."

Kakashi walked purposely between them, breaking the animosity.

"Trainings done for today. You can go home."

Throwing Naruto a dirty look Sasuke turned on his heel before walking off into the trees.

Kakashi looked down at Naruto. At first the blond was worried thinking his sensei was angry until he saw that his teacher's eye was curved from his hidden smile.

"The 1000 years of pain, huh?" Kakashi said, the undercurrent of humour clear to hear.

"Yup." Naruto said smiling as he scratched the back of his head.

Kakashi seemed to consider his reply for a moment.

His eye curving further Kakashi said simply: "Nice."

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Authors Rant:

Writing the fighting wasn't as bad as I'd thought it would be. I'm quite looking forward to the more serious fighting later on. Thanks for reading! Until the next chapter! ;)


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8. Posted a little slower this time, I had some biology work to do. NOOO! THE DREADED BIOLOGY! Well, it's all over now, I'll just try and pretend it was a bad dream…

Anyway…chapter 8. Once again this chapter feels to me as though its merely setting up for the next one. Thank you for the reviews! It's nice to know that I have the same sense of humour to some people ;)

Enjoy! Let me know what you think as always!

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Chapter 8

Scribbling furiously Tsunade completed another piece of paperwork.

_Just a couple more then sake. Just a bit more writing then sake…_Was the general trail of thought that was running through the Hokage's mind.

KNOCK KNOCK

"Come in." Tsunade called without looking up. It had been a long hard day and all she wanted now was some sake to relax with.

The door opened, the figure of a person walking forward to her desk. Looking up she started.

"Kakashi! You used a door?" it was a good enough reason for her to put the pen down. "What's so important that you used my door? What's Naruto done?"

"Nothings wrong. I thought I'd just tell you about his progress." Kakashi said calmly holding his hands up, palms facing outward as though trying to physically stop her questions.

"Ok, tell me but if you don't make it quick then you're going to be responsible for buying me a drink for holding up my work." Tsunade said tiredly

"Well, Naruto seemed to take meeting Sasuke and Sakura ok. Their…distance…has been as such since their academy days. I'm quite certain Naruto did some joke at Sasuke's expense. I told Naruto and Sasuke to spar and Sasuke ended up pummelling Naruto." Kakashi said but seeing Tsunade's look he continued before she could speak. "Sasuke was fighting seriously; I had to step in when he was holding Naruto by the front of his jacket alternately punching his face and stomach. Overall Naruto did well for his circumstances. I don't know if he remembers jutsu's he's learned, he may remember them when doing them. But now he remembers the bell test I did with them on my second day of knowing them. They were fighting in the same place as we were that day."

Tsunade was silent for a while, tapping her finger against her lips.

"I'm guessing that he remembered this whilst he was fighting Sasuke?" Tsunade asked seriously.

From his one visible eye she could tell that Kakashi was impressed.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Oh, it's just what I've seen of Naruto. His strength is heightened by his emotions when he fights. I just thought if he's fighting Sasuke then he's going to get angry. It just seemed plausible that emotions would trigger his memories." Tsunade said propping her head up on her hand.

"What do you propose?" Kakashi asked, he could tell the Hokage had something up her sleeve.

"Well, this could just be me, but if Naruto was put through a number of stressful situations, controlled though, we should be able to recover his memory quicker. But then there's always the chance that it could actually traumatise Naruto causing his memories to take even longer to return. It could always be left to time but there's such a risk with his memory loss that he can't tell friend from enemy." Tsunade said rather carelessly as though simply musing aloud.

"What do you mean 'stressful situations'?" Kakashi asked slowly.

"Like his fight Sasuke today. I'm sure the other jounins would co-operate with the idea." Tsunade sighed.

She knew this was a serious situation and she did care greatly about Naruto, but she _really_ wanted some sake.

"You want Naruto to fight jounins?" Kakashi said in a deadened voice.

"No. I meant their students, but that's not a bad idea either." Tsunade said quietly in a thoughtful voice. "I'll speak to the teachers first thing tomorrow. I'll finish this work later. Let's go Kakashi, you owe me a drink." The Hokage said standing as she pulled on her green jacket. "And don't give me that look, you made me late so you're not getting out of buying me a drink."

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"Sake please." Tsunade said to the waiter as she took her seat. Kakashi sat next to her in front of the service counter. He didn't really want to be there but he had no where else better to go.

"Is that for both of you?" the waiter asked.

"Yeah. One each please." She replied.

The man bustled away for a moment before returning with two white containers of Sake and two cups.

"You know Kakashi; I don't think I've ever seen you without your mask." The Hokage said watching him slyly from the corner of her eyes as she filled both their small cups with sake. Lifting her cup to her lips she gulped down the liquid in on go, sighing leisurely as she lowered her cup, watching Kakashi openly this time.

"Huh. Is that so?" Kakashi said carelessly as he lifted his cup and…drank the sake neatly through his mask.

The Hokage looked slightly put out.

There was a little wet patch on his mask where his mouth was.

"Tsunade-sama! There you are! I've been searching everywhere for you." Cried Shizunes voice.

Turning Kakashi saw the darkened haired nin approaching looking rather mad. He took this as his queue to escape.

"I'll find you in the morning Tsunade to find out what you're planning for Naruto." Kakashi said to the distracted Hokage.

Getting up, Kakashi made it half way to the door before he heard the Hokage being told off. He was long gone before Tsunade realised Kakashi hadn't paid for their drinks.

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Walking through the dark empty streets Kakashi was lost in thought, oblivious to the warm lights seeping from the shop fronts, tantalizingly bright.

Turning a corner he found himself in front of Hokage tower once again, behind it the sombre faces of the four previous Hokages staring out over their sleeping village.

Something caught his eye.

Stopping, Kakashi stood and stared up at the top of the cliff.

Was it…? There was no mistaking who it was. The orange was apparent even from here. Naruto.

Sighing Kakashi tucked his hands into his pockets as he walked towards the cliff. Once reaching the base of the cliff he simply pressed his foot against the sheer rock and continued walking, just in a slightly more vertical way.

Carefully he avoided walking on the Hokage's faces, walking up along the grooves in between instead. He didn't want to be disrespectful.

He could see Naruto clearly now. The boy was just sitting there in the dark, his face hidden under shadow. It made a very sinister picture. The orange ruined it somewhat.

"Yo Naruto." Kakashi said as he reached the level earth at the top of the cliff, glad to have horizontal ground under his feet again.

Naruto snapped out of his trance like state, looking up at his sensei, his face lit by the moon above.

"This is one of your regular haunts then?" Kakashi asked but remained standing. The boy certainly looked ghost-like. Like some tragic spirit waiting in the night, the moonlight turning him a shade of grey.

"Meh. I don't know if it is. I don't remember it if that's what you mean." Naruto shrugged casually. It was then Kakashi realised that the boy hadn't been deep in thought or in a trance. He'd been asleep. At a top of a cliff. In the dark. Now anyone could tell that wasn't a good idea.

"You were asleep, weren't you?" the jounin asked.

"No."

"Look, I'm going to have to take you home, not just because falling asleep but because Tsunade's got something planned for you tomorrow to try and get your memory so you'll need you rest." Kakashi said casually before reaching out a hand to pull him up.

Taking the offered hand Naruto allowed himself to be pulled to his feet.

"You don't remember learning to climb trees with Sasuke and Sakura by any chance, do you?" Kakashi asked but he thought he already knew the answer.

"I can climb trees." Naruto said unsure of what that had to do with anything.

"With only using charkra from your feet?" Kakashi said.

"Er…no."

"Get on." Kakashi said tuning his back to the boy, watching him over his shoulder. "I'll have to carry you down."

"I walk up and down fine you know." Naruto said stubbornly.

"It'll take too long. Get on."

Uneasily Naruto jumped onto Kakashi's back in a piggy back.

Without warning the jounin turned and simply stepped off the edge of the cliff, falling forwards.

Naruto would have cried out if he could but he was too shocked to move.

Kakashi simply walked back down the sheer cliff with Naruto freaking out slightly on his back.

Once he had righted himself on the ground once again he let Naruto jump off.

"Go home and go to sleep. You'll be dead on you feet otherwise." Kakashi said, about to turn away when the boy called.

"Er…Kakashi-sensei…thanks." Naruto said smiling before walking away in the direction of his home.

Alone again Kakashi allowed his eyelid to droop out of tiredness. It was time he took his own advice and went home. Sighing Kakashi walked through the curtain of darkness as he headed back home.

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Author's Rant:

A little shorter then usual, I know.

p.s. Kakashi's great!


	9. Chapter 9

This is chapter 9. I'm sorry if this and the last chapter were kinda slow but I had to explain what was about to happen next, which is more interesting! Thanks for the reviews! I see I am among Kakashi fans!

Any wayz…enjoy and let me know what you think!

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Chapter 9

The dark blue of pre-dawn light still covered the sleeping Konoha, the dew fresh on the ground.

A black silhouette walked across the top of the buildings, leaping the gap between the roofs silently.

Kakashi walked deep in thought, the wind ruffling his hair.

He had just come from the Hokage's office having spoken with Tsunade. She had stuck with her idea of finding genins and jounins to fight Naruto.

He wasn't happy with this. Either way he was going to get hurt, Naruto was far below his usual fighting abilities. If he was pushed to far…

But the Hokage had said she was prepared for that eventuality.

Sighing, Kakashi made the final leap over the gaps between buildings, landing on the roof of where Naruto lived.

He didn't like this idea; hopefully it would just be like a training session for him. Naruto would take it lightly in good humour.

Jumping down onto the walkway Kakashi strolled over to the boy's front door and let himself in.

The rooms where still all in darkness, the curtain all closed. The smell of ramen lingered in the air.

Moving through the kitchen Kakashi made his way to Naruto's room knowing the boy would still be asleep.

Opening the last door Kakashi walked into the boy's room. Even in darkness he could tell it was tidy.

Strange, he would have thought Naruto was more of a slob.

"Naruto." Kakashi called as he stepped towards the lump on the bed.

He was completely hidden under the crumpled duvet.

"Naruto?" he said again, a little louder.

The shape on the bed shifted slightly but didn't surface from under the blankets.

Kakashi poked the shape before stepping back, calling his name again.

The blankets shifted violently as two arms appeared pulling down the blanket to uncover his head. His blond hair sticking out in every direction from under a strange night hat.

"Huh?" Naruto murmured as his head turned his eyes tight slits barely open.

"Wake up." Kakashi said calmly. He didn't think Naruto had seen him yet.

"YAHHH!" Naruto cried in shock, his eyes wide as he tried to fight his way out from under the duvet. With a thump he fell off of the bed landing sprawled on the floor.

Looking up at Kakashi from the ground Naruto said uneasily "Kakashi sensei?"

"Yeah, now get up. We've got to go."

"What are you doing! It's still dark! I wanna sleep!" Naruto cried indignantly before pulling the duvet over his face where he lay on the floor.

Reaching down Kakashi threw the blanket off of Naruto back on to the bed.

Naruto simply glared up at Kakashi from were he remained on the floor.

"Come on. If you hurry you'll have time to eat breakfast." Kakashi said cheerfully in an attempt to persuade him to get up.

"All right. Get out so I can get dressed." He muttered from where he still lay on the ground. Rolling over he pushed himself up on to his hands and knees before leaning on the bed to help himself upright.

Assenting Kakashi put his hands in his pockets as he turned and walked out of the room to sit and wait in the kitchen.

Muffled thuds followed by a loud curse reached Kakashi where he leant waiting against the kitchen units.

He heard the boy stumble from his room across the hall into the bathroom.

Silently Kakashi observed the kitchen. There was a small bowl of fruit he had forced upon Naruto a while ago, telling him to make sure that he kept refilling it. Sure enough there were a couple pieces of fruit that didn't look to bad. Kakashi picked up a piece. He would push Naruto out once he was ready. He could eat fruit for breakfast.

"So what's going on?" Naruto asked tiredly as he walked into the kitchen.

"Training." Kakashi said as he tossed the fruit to the boy.

Fumbling Naruto caught it clumsily. _Ewww fruit._

"What's so important that you had to wake me up before dawn?" Naruto asked.

"The Hokage has personally arranged the training for you. She thinks it might help you recover some of your memories." Kakashi said but he felt the hint of unease again.

"So come on. You'll have to follow me."

Getting up Kakashi walked to the door, looking over his shoulder to check that Naruto was following he walked out into the cool dark air.

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Silently Naruto followed Kakashi across the roof tops of Konoha unhappily munching on his piece of fruit.

He was too tired to truly care where he was going. I mean, come on. IT WAS STILL DARK! No one who was normal got up this early.

The buildings gave way to trees as Naruto continued to follow his silent teacher.

"Where are we going?" Naruto called forward having properly woken up.

"To a clearing, we're going to meet the others and spend the day training." Kakashi said flatly over his shoulder.

Naruto was starting to feel slightly worried. Kakashi hadn't acted like this to him before. Maybe he had always been like this. He didn't know, he didn't remember…though in that bell test he had done with them when they first met he had acted similarly…

The sun was showing signs of rising as the sky turned pink.

Suddenly Kakashi dropped down landing in an open space, the trees ending abruptly. Landing next to his sensei Naruto looked around uneasily. There were a number of other people in the clearing which was now filled with the light from the rising sun. He only recognised a few.

The Hokage was talking to the white haired man who had recognised him as a girl. Nervously he looked to see who else was there.

There was the spandex wearing ninja that had appeared the evening he had woken in hospital. Next to him stood a boy who looked just like him, identical down to the bowl hair cut and matching green spandex…eww. They looked like father and son, well, they probably were.

There was a tall dark haired woman with red eyes talking to a boy with a…dog on his head. Ok. Only slightly strange.

"Late as always Kakashi." The Hokage said as she moved forward.

"Well, it was such a lovely morning." He said carelessly. The Hokage turned away, missing the curving of Kakashi's eye as he looked down at Naruto.

It had been nice that he'd said that instead of 'I had to break into Naruto's house and drag him out of bed, that's why we're late.'

"Naruto, that is Kiba (she pointed at dog boy) and his sensei Kurenai (pointed at the red eyed woman). That is Lee (she pointed at the shorter of the two spandex clad ninjas) and that is his teacher Gai (she pointed at the taller one). She paused.

The white haired man was walking over to them now as well as being watched by all the others that the Hokage had pointed out.

Suddenly the white haired mans words floated across his mind…

"_Ha! It is! Just you wait 'til I get my hands on you!"_

Naruto swallowed.

Stopping in front of the short blond Jiraiya smiled down at the boy. He seemed younger then he remembered.

"Alright Naruto?" the man said looking down at him.

He nodded in simple response.

"Naruto you're going to spar against Kiba and Lee today. They both went through the chuuin exams with you which was a very stressful situation, so we're hoping that you being exposed to their fighting styles again will trigger your memory." Tsunade explained as she looked down on him as though sizing him up.

"What are their teachers here for and you and him." Naruto said indicating the Hokage and Jiraiya.

"Safety." The white haired man said.

"Kiba we're ready for you and Akamaru when you are." The Hokage called.

The other teacher moved out to create some space for their sparring to take place in. Kakashi gave him a pat on the shoulder before turning away with the white haired man.

The boy stopped shortly in front of him, grinning to himself as he watched Naruto.

"So you don't remember me at all?" he said.

"No." he said emotionlessly before looking down at the little dog as it snarled at him.

_I don't think I like dogs…_

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"What do you think?" Kakashi asked Jiraiya as they walked together, stopping a short distance from the two boys.

"I think we have to wait and see. It is as Tsunade said. It could go either way. If not at all, at least it stops him from being idle." The sennin replied.

"Was there really the need to have so many teachers here just to watch Naruto?" Kakashi said as he ran his eye over the assembled teachers.

"Well you're here because he's your student. Same goes for Gai and Kurenai, they just want to look out for theirs. We know there's a chance that the Kyuubi charkra may surface, they're worried, even if their students don't know about what."

"You said you had an idea of what to do if he did use the Kyuubi charkra…" Kakashi said interestedly.

"Yeah, I've devised these seals written on pieces of paper. As long as one is placed on his forehead then the charkra will be sealed immediately. But the easier way would be to simply dowse him with water; I don't think the Kyuubi likes it." He said smiling.

Turning back to watch Naruto he listened as the Hokage laid out the rules.

"This is only sparring. The match will end when someone submits or is unconscious. You will not do any fatal strikes; we are not trying to kill each other." Tsunade said watching the two boys seriously. Over to one side he could see Gai and Lee were excited from them punching the air whilst saying something about youth…

Strange guys, the both of them.

"Begin!"

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Authors Rant:

The story picks up again, don't worry! The fights are coming next! Mwah ha ha ha!

See ya ;)


	10. Chapter 10

lol. Really sorry about that to Aeris Queen of Insanity and Hell's Sorrow. That whole K------ thing was because I couldn't remember how to spell Kabuto ( I do now thanx to you guys ;p ) so whilst I was writing this chapter that's just what I did to remind myself to go back and fill in his name. I was really confused thinking "isn't Kabuto a pokemon?" then I got more confused, and like I said forgot to change it.

If you don't know what the hell I'm talking about that's fine.

(This shows the extent of my stupidity. I removed the chapter, wrote this at the post then posted it again, still with the K----- thing in it. Sorry! I'm being really forgetful for some reason! Oh well, third times the charm!)

Sorry about that, back to the story…

;D

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Chapter 10

Distracted, Naruto had still been watching the Hokage as she spoke. Turning around he was in time to see a fist smack into the side of his face.

Falling backwards Naruto rolled, hitting the floor. Clawing himself upright he glared at Kiba furiously.

"I'm gunna freaking kick your ass!" Naruto snarled as he rubbed the side of his face.

That had been a hard punch; he'd been completely caught off guard.

"Well, seeing as I remember our previous fight, I know how you fight and the tricks you might play. To you I'm an in known opponent, so the advantage is mine." Kiba said grinning. He was going to enjoy this. He liked Naruto, he was ok once you got to know him but he was planning on a little pay back for the chuunin exam…

Without warning Naruto ran forwards, jumping over Akamaru to reach Kiba. Using solely taijutsu Naruto attacked, throwing punches and elbows at Kiba.

Dodging and ducking Kiba was able to dodge most of them, landing his own in return on Naruto.

Landing a kick in the blond's stomach Kiba couldn't help but think back to his only fight against Naruto.

He hadn't let the blond get so close to him in the exam, he had to make some space between them, he knew his own advantages, it was about time he used them.

"Ahhh!" Naruto cried, but not from the kick. Freezing he slowly looked over his shoulder with narrowed eyes.

The little dog was hanging from the back of his leg half way between his ankle and knee; its teeth sunk right into the muscle as blood began to soak through the torn trouser leg.

Naruto angrily waved his leg around trying the shake the dog off causing droplets of blood to splatter the dried ground around him.

With what sounded like a laugh the dog let go only to land in Kiba's arms.

"I hate dogs." Naruto said flatly as he stared over at it, his eyes slits.

"Good job Akamaru!" Kiba said as he smiled nastily at Naruto.

_That should slow him down._

Putting the dog down Kiba pushed his hands together crying "Shikyaku no Jutsu!" before dropping down on all fours.

Startled, Naruto watched with widened eyes. The boy's appearance had changed. He looked slightly wolfish with pointed teeth and claws as well as a strange narrowing of his eyes.

Looking up at Naruto with a smile Kiba laughed. He didn't know what was about to hit him.

Leaping forward like a flash he was on Naruto.

_Woah! Fast!_

All the blond had time for was to cross his arms in front of his face, Kiba's claws cutting into his sleeves and arms.

_I've had enough of this…_

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto cried as he crossed his finger to make the hand seal.

A line of Narutos stood facing Kiba, though a couple were eyeing the Akamaru with dislike.

All the Narutos rushed as Kiba; though slightly slower then Naruto had been to begin with, all of them had the same leg injury.

Kiba leapt forward to meet them.

The fight was a flurry of orange, claws and white clouds as clones were destroyed.

Kiba's speed gave him the advantage as he easily dodged the clumsy attacks, striking out in punches or with his claws.

He was destroying the clones so quickly and close together that he couldn't see for the white clouds.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." He heard quietly. If it hadn't been for the sensitiveness of his hearing he wouldn't have noticed.

The clouds cleared.

He was surrounded by a ring of Narutos standing shoulder to shoulder, grinning.

_What reason does he have to smile? He's getting his ass kicked._

"Hope you're ready." one said from behind him.

As one the circle closed in, moving far faster then he'd expected.

What? But, his leg!

With a cry the circle of Narutos kicked out, all with their injured legs. Kiba had no escape. The kicks were so powerful! Winded and bruised Kiba was kicked straight up into the air.

That's when he saw it.

Some of the clones had hung back behind the circle standing in pairs. Now that he was in the air the clones grabbed the other of their pair by the wrists as they swung it round before throwing them up into the air at him!

Three Narutos flew at him, a sitting target as he still rose up from the kicks.

"Take this!" cried the first one to reach him as it threw a punch.

Blocking it Kiba kicked out destroying the clone.

The other two reached him at the same time, flying from behind him.

Twisting Kiba lashed out with a kick, both clones miraculously dodging it.

"Don't underestimate me!" one cried before punching him in the face, hard.

Reeling backwards Kiba's legs came up kicking the clone that had been quiet so far destroying it, before he reached up and grabbed the last Naruto left, punching it in the stomach.

It didn't disappear.

Laughing through its teeth the Naruto reached out, grabbing Kiba by the neck of his hooded coat.

"Yeah, it's me." Naruto said quietly before throwing him downwards at the earth.

With a cry Kiba slammed into the ground, Akamaru running to his side as he nudged him with his head, barking with that annoying yap.

Pain lanced through him even though he'd managed to get his hands out in front of him to absorb some of the impact.

The clones on the ground watched upwards at the falling real Naruto as they moved slightly so they were below him.

The clones caught him easily, absorbing the force from the falling Naruto.

Jumping down on to his feet Naruto released the jutsu, causing all the clones around him to disappear.

Grinning he rubbed his nose as he watched Kiba.

_Hell yeah! I'm great!_

Clenching his teeth Kiba pushed himself up.

He knew Naruto had grown stronger since the chuunin exam, that guy always seemed to be learning new moves, but with his memory loss he'd been half expecting him to return to a lower level of skill. He might not even realise it but he was fighting better then he had during the exam.

Oh well, it was time to take it up a notch.

"Akamaru." He said to the dog with a meaningful look.

Dropping down on all fours the little dog leapt up onto Kiba's back.

"Huh?" Naruto said nonplussed as he stared at the boy and dog. Honestly, he'd thought he'd won.

The boy cried something in a snarling shout that Naruto couldn't understand. Charkra darted around them when in a puff of white cloud covered them. When it cleared there were two Kiba's, one perched atop the other, both looking at him.

"What do you think Naruto? Does this ring any bells?" Kiba asked laughing as the two versions of him stood next to each other.

"No. why, should it?" Naruto said watching the two boys with a puzzled expression on his face.

"You'll see soon enough." Kiba said with a smile, his pointed teeth gleaming. "Let's go Akamaru!"

The two Kiba's ran at Naruto on all fours, a mirror image of each other, every step in time.

Naruto hesitated; he didn't know what to do.

Within a second they had reached him.

With amazing speed one kick both his legs out from under him as the other leapt at him, pushing him to the ground where he was pinned with the boys clawed hands on his shoulders. The force caused the boy to be carried over and off of Naruto.

Stunned from hitting his head hard on the ground Naruto swayed as he stood upright.

The two were circling him, always on opposite sides to each other.

_Ok, think Naruto, think…_

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"He's not doing too badly." Jiraiya said as they watched the now motionless Naruto as he was circled by the two Kiba's.

"Hm. I haven't seen him do that move where he used the clones to throw himself at the opponent before." Kakashi said as he folded his arms. "We'll see what he does now. Even if he remembers he won't be able to use the same trick against Kiba that he did during the exam."

For a while Kakashi, Jiraiya and Tsunade stood silently as they watched the fight.

"Ooo that was a cheap shot." Jiraiya said

"Which one?" Kakashi asked carelessly

"Both of them. Did you see that!" Jiraiya replied without taking his eyes from the fight.

Again there was silence as the three watched, Kurenai, Gai and Lee standing almost on the opposite side of the clearing to them so they were quite alone.

"Tsunade, I understand why you arranged for Naruto to spar against Kiba, but why Lee?" Kakashi asked as he turned to the Hokage.

"Lee? Well, I know he's never fought him; I was looking through his file to find some appropriate people. To be honest, because I don't think he can beat him, especially without his justsu's." Tsunade said with a slight smile as her eye's landed on Lee across the clearing.

"But why?" Kakashi asked again. There must be more reason then that for her choice.

"You weren't there to witness this but when Jiraiya and Naruto were looking for me to ask me to be Hokage, Naruto was learning the Rasengan. I thought there was no chance of him mastering it, ever. Then Orochimaru and his subordinate came and we fought. Paralysed by my fear of blood I couldn't fight but when Kabuto was about to attack me Naruto stepped between us. He made a single clone. Not much good as you can imagine but he caught Kabuto's hand as he was about to stab Naruto. Then with his clone and his one free hand Naruto did the Rasengan, and properly. That's why he always uses the Rasengan with a clone because it allows him to retain its energy. He did this all in the heat of battle against an opponent much stronger then he was." Tsunade said as she smiled fondly at the fighting form of Naruto. "So basically that's what I was trying to recreate. Naruto against an opponent stronger then himself who had the obvious advantage. It brings out the best in him. And even though he didn't fight against Lee in the chuunin exam he witnessed his fight and was generally in close contact with him through a section of it."

Kakashi stood silently. It was a very personal reason he thought. He had never heard the details of how Naruto had learnt the Rasengan but it was most interesting. He could understand why she would pick a stronger opponent but that could have been any number of people.

"Why not a jounin?"

But this time it was Jiraiya who answered.

"Because you don't want Naruto to get too serious." Jiraiya said darkly.

Silently the three of them all turned back to watch the fight at hand.

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Naruto stood panting as did Kiba and his double as they looked across at each other.

He'd tried a number of ideas and even he had to admit that most of them were stupid, one of the Kibas was still covered in pieces of moss whilst the other had teeth marks, yes Naruto's teeth marks, on his nose.

Bad ideas, maybe, but they had been funny.

"I don't know what's with you but you bit me last time too!" Kiba said with a mix of annoyance and humour.

"Don't blame me; you might just be the sort of person that people want to bite." Naruto said smiling as he watched him from the corner of his eye.

"Well you're the only person who ever has!" he exclaimed. "Akamaru let's go!"

Once again the two Kiba's ran at Naruto but he had a slight idea this time.

_Grab them, hold onto them, and punch them repeatedly._

"Prepare for my retribution!" Kiba cried as the other one, Akamaru presumably, leapt at Naruto and…sunk his teeth into Naruto's arm.

"Ow! Get off!" Naruto cried as he vigorously shook his arm before punching him a couple of times in the face for good measure.

The justsu was released from his punching revealing Akamaru hanging from his arm.

Finally the dog's bite loosened as it dropped to the ground before returning to its master.

"Now that we're even, how do you feel about calling it quits? It's only sparring after all." Kiba said.

"Huh? I'm ok with that...if you are?" Naruto said slightly suspicious.

"Yeah, I'm ok with that." Kiba said

"Me too." Naruto replied in a neutral voice.

Moving forward the boys shook hands, still watching each other suspiciously, before turning to walk away together, followed by Akamaru.

"How's the leg?" Kiba asked.

"Fine. I was faking it to trick you. How's the nose?" Naruto said with a smile.

"Sore." Kiba said sounding slightly agitated.

Together they sat down at the edge of the clearing as the teachers curiously watched on.

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Author's Rant:

"What!" you say "Naruto didn't remember anything!"

Well, you'll have to read the next chapter! Bye bye:D


	11. Chapter 11

Hiya there! Thanks for the reviews. Sorry but this is a REALLY short chapter ( I mean really short) I'll make up for it in the next one, this is really just to let you know I'm still here and still doing the story! ;D

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Chapter 11

"_What's going on, why did they stop?"_ Kakashi thought puzzled as he watched the two boys as they sat at the base of a tree.

Sharing a quick look with Tsunade and Jiraiya they began to walk over, Jiraiya turning off towards Gai and the others half way across the clearing.

Reaching the two boys Kakashi leaned against the trunk of a tree as he listened to them talking having ignored his and the Hokages presence.

"…what do you mean your 'retribution'! Your dog bit me, what's so special about that?" Naruto mocked where he sat next to Kiba.

"What? You've bitten me twice before and now Akamaru's bitten you twice. We're even." Kiba shrugged, the little dog was now tucked down the front of his jacket so only its head was visible.

"So, that justsu where you became kinda wolfish…" Naruto said slowly

"Shikyaku no Jutsu. Why, did you remember it?" Kiba asked

"No. but it did give me an idea of my own, I liked that move." Naruto said, deep in thought.

"Well I'm not too worried; you don't have the Sharingan so you can't copy it." Kiba laughed as he watched Naruto expression.

There had been something about that move Kiba had used. It was…interesting. He couldn't say what it was but it gave him an idea…to do with the Kyuubi.

"Why did you two stop?" Kakashi said interrupting his thoughts.

Silently the two boys looked up at the jounin.

"What? It's only a sparring match. We called it quits." Naruto said carelessly as he stretched, resting his hands behind his head.

"No. Kiba can rest, you can't. Get up; you have another sparring partner to face yet." Kakashi said calmly.

"Wha? Who?" Naruto said stupidly as he looked around. His eyes landing on Lee he smiled. "Oh. The guy wearing the green spandex."

"Don't underestimate him or the next thing you'll find is you're waking up in a hospital bed." Kiba said grinning, perfectly happy as it didn't involve him.

"Get up." Kakashi said.

Sighing, Naruto pushed himself up.

"Remember anything new?" the jounin asked as he was about to walk away.

"No." smiling Naruto walked back into the centre of the clearing.

From the other side the boy, 'Rock Lee', was walking forwards. Naruto finally got a closer look at the boy.

He was tall and weedy, combined with his green clothing gave the impression of a bean pole. He looked scarily cheerful.

"Naruto kun! I am most excited at the chance to spar against you as I never have! Ever since you defeated Neji during the chuunin exam I have wanted to fight you! Is it true that you have lost your memory?" the boy cried happily.

"Err, sure…" Naruto muttered.

_My god! His eyebrows! Are they really eyebrows! They look more like dead caterpillars. WAIT! Did one just move?_

"Go on Lee! Show him the burning passion of your spirit!" cried the man who looked just like him.

"Whoa! I don't need to see anything like that!" Naruto said worriedly having got entirely the wrong idea.

Silently the Hokage moved forward.

"The same rules apply as before. This is a sparring match. It's over once someone submits or is unconscious. NO fatal strikes." Tsunade said as she watched Naruto, eyeing the wounds from Akamaru on his arms and legs. A shifting of the fabric allowed her to see the flesh of his leg wound.

It was already healing…

_The Kyuubi must be particularly active. We'll have to keep a close eye on him from now on._

Stepping back the Hokage raised her arm before dropping it.

"Begin."

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I promis!


	12. Chapter 12

Kinda random, kinda weird but, meh. Chapter 12, Naruto fights Lee. Sorry the las chapter was so short but its getting there! Let me know what you think ;p

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Chapter 12

Ready this time, Naruto hadn't taken his eyes from the bean pole of a ninja even whilst Tsunade had been speaking.

With a smile the boy vanished.

_Not good! Not good!_

Eyes wide Naruto searched the clearing. Everything was still and silent, the teachers and Kiba all watching expectantly…

SLAM!

Naruto was sent reeling as he was hit numerous times by fists and feet, a punch on the jaw, a kick in the stomach…

To shocked, winded and in pain to cry out Naruto tumbled limply across the hard ground, coming to a stop halfway across the clearing.

"Ow…" he muttered

Opening his eyes the blond found himself with his nose pressed against the dusty ground.

_Crap…that had hurt_

Clutching his stomach he coughed as he rolled onto his side. Pushing himself up with one hand he rose to his hands and knees.

This guy moved like lightning!

Looking around Naruto found him standing on the other side of the clearing.

Drawing a kunai Naruto dashed across the ground separating them.

Throwing the knife he leapt, knowing the boy would easily dodge, he aimed a kick at his head.

In a flash of speed he was to Naruto's left. Seeing him the blond could do nothing to avoid his attack.

After another beating Naruto found himself once again lying stunned on the ground.

_How the hell was he so fast! He wasn't even using any charkra moves…_

Enough of this! Let's see how he does against more then one of me!

Standing with a slight shake of his knees he crossed his fingers to make the hand seal…

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto cried.

A crowd of Naruto's filled the clearing but not as many as when he'd fought Kiba. Gritting his teeth Naruto smiled through his grimace. He could feel the strain. His charkra had already been drained.

The boy smiled at this. Not sarcastically or smugly but a true happy smile. It annoyed him. It was as though he wasn't considered a worthy opponent…this was all just a fun game to him.

Quietly a small part of his brain told him that it was just a game, it was only training, nothing serious but it was a darker part of him that suppressed this thought. A dark, ancient part of him…

With a snarl though his teeth the Naruto's leapt forward.

The boy still effortlessly dodged.

Naruto's anger rose as his blows hit nothing but air, his clones dropping like flies around him.

Naruto stood silently watching Lee across the ground that separated them. The wind rustling through the leaves was the only sound in the clearing.

Together they ran forward, Lee covering the ground a lot faster then Naruto.

Aiming, Naruto swept the boys legs out from under him – but he was already gone, wait - above him!

With all his speed Naruto threw himself to the side, rolling hard across the ground.

"Kage bunshin no Jutsu!" he cried.

Just as Lee's leg had been about to slam into Naruto's stomach where he lay momentarily helpless on his back two clones materialised either side of him, catching the boy in mid air.

Pushing with his legs Lee spun, kicking the heads of the clones that held him as the real Naruto threw himself at the black haired nin.

He could feel his movements were too slow…he needed more…more speed…more strength…

Lee's fist stopped abruptly inches from the blond's face which was hidden in shadow.

The boy stared. His fist had been neatly caught in Naruto's hand.

In a flash of speed Naruto's leg shot up landing squarely in Lee's stomach.

Flying backwards he slowed himself with difficulty as he scraped a hand through the ground.

_Naruto…?_

The blond remained frozen where he stood, his face tilted down, hidden in shadow.

As he raised his head scarlet eyes glinted in the sunlight.

Breathless Lee watched on silently.

What was this change in Naruto? He was completely different, his strength. He'd managed to anticipate his speed…he looked different even…

The blonds stance changed as their eyes locked. A sneering smile spread across his face…

"Stop!" a strong voice commanded.

In a blink of the eye Gai and Jiraiya stood between the two boys. Gob smacked Lee watched with all the grace of a cod fish.

Naruto hesitated, his red eyes flicking over the two.

Twitching the boy suddenly looked upwards, a split second before a huge amount of water crashed over him having seemingly fallen from the sky.

For a long moment everything was very still, everyone staring silently at the dripping Naruto and the huge puddle of water that surrounded him.

Quietly the blond coughed a couple of times. It was quite amazing that he was still standing…

Very slowly as everyone watched him Naruto raised his head, his hair dripping into his eyes, his blue eyes. Then…

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!" Naruto cried as he waved his arms around frantically, sending droplets of water in every direction. Furiously he spun on the spot, searching for the guilty person as he began to shiver.

Suddenly Kakashi was on Jiraiya's over side, his visible eye curved from his hidden smile.

"Doesn't like water huh?" Kakashi muttered as Naruto continued to splash around furiously.

Folding his arms the sennin smiled. It was good to be right.

"YOU!" Naruto cried as he pointed dramatically at Kakashi as more water flew from his hand at the violence of his movement. The effect was somewhat ruined by the angry step he took forwards, resulting in a loud squelch.

"Sparring's over. Now calm down." Kakashi said carelessly

"CALM DOWN? WHEN I'VE JUST HAD THE CONTENTS OF A RIVER DUMPED OVER MY HEAD?" Naruto ranted as he went off on a tangent to himself.

"Is there a river near by Kakashi? You're the only person here I know to be able to use water Jutsu's…" Jiraiya hinted slyly.

"A pond actually." Was his reply before moving forward towards the ranting Naruto.

"Silence!" Kakashi commanded in a much sterner voice then usual. "I told you to calm down. Sparring is over but your training for today isn't. Now shake hands with Lee for a good fight."

Naruto stood looking dumbfounded at his sensei.

He was about to argue back when he saw the narrowing of Kakashi's eye.

Better not argue…

Wide eyed with indignation and insult Naruto walked over to Lee.

Squelch…squelch…squelch…squelch…squelch…squelch…

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Authors Rant:

Sorry, still kinda short. I'll try and make then longer :)


	13. Chapter 13

Hiya again! Thanks for all the reviews on chapter 12, I don't think I've had so many on one chapter! And look! Over 100 reviews! The most one of my other stories had was 3 reviews! What a dramatic difference!

Anyway, back to this, chapter 13…oooooooooo! Superstitious! Well, the chapter isn't but that doesn't matter. Let me know what you think as always, and coming up in the next chapter a number of the genin's find out something they didn't know about Naruto.

Enjoy:D

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Chapter 13

Folding his arms angrily Naruto glared at his white haired sensei.

They were back at the place he'd fought Sasuke with the stone memorial and the three wooden stumps.

There was a lot he wanted Kakashi to answer for but as he grimly eyed his teacher he held back, if only from the new punishment that was about to be unleashed on him.

That had been the kyuubi back there…or at least the kyuubi's charkra. That had been why the teachers had stopped him. Was that why he was here? Was Kakashi punishing him?

He remembered that night in the Hokage's office after being chased over half of Konoha, the way she had spoken so carelessly about 'what was in him' as she'd put it. Personally he didn't care that the kyuubi was bound within him. I was people's fear he hated. Couldn't they tell the difference in the kyuubi being within him to them thinking of him as the kyuubi?

"You look like you have something you want to say to me Naruto." Kakashi said snapping Naruto out of his thoughts.

"No!"

"Ok. Fifty laps of Konoha. Starting now. I'll be waiting here to see you as you start each new lap." Kakashi said as he leant against one of the stumps as he pulled out a Come Come Paradise book.

Turning away from his sensei Naruto followed the path he'd taken around Konoha with Sakura and Sasuke.

More running? How original.

Jogging easily Naruto passed Kakashi (who barely glanced at him before his gaze returned to his perverted book…what's so great about them? Mildly Naruto decided he would have to personally investigate at some point…) a while later having completed his first lap of the town. He felt ok at the moment but he didn't know how long he could keep this up, he'd only eaten a piece of mangy fruit all day, the sun had already passed its peak and was starting to make its descent towards the horizon. He was sooo hungry! Not to mention drained of charkra as well as being rather battered and bruised from fighting Lee. Damn that boy!

Halfway through the second lap his stomach was growling with hunger. If only he could have some Ramen. Mmm…miso ramen…

He felt his mouth water to the extent that he was nearly drooling.

Grudgingly Naruto kept running and running…and running…

_SO hungry…_

He was starting to feel slightly faint, his running/jog reduced to a speedy stagger except when he was in close proximity to Kakashi.

_What was the point of this? Grr stupid teacher…stupid Hokage. Why am I even bothering, this is so pointless, but if I stop or disappear Kakashi will know as I won't pass him any more._

And thus Naruto's thoughts circled over the same points over and over again, driven by hunger, tiredness and anger. A pretty crappy combo resulting in Naruto feeling, well… crappy.

Now panting heavily Naruto passed Kakashi in the beginning of his tenth lap. He was visibly wilting. He'd been thinking about an idea for a while but now he was past caring about the consequences.

Halfway through the tenth lap when he was about as far away from Kakashi as he could have been on his circuit around the village. Naruto shot a swift glance around him before allowing himself to move off the path into the trees where he promptly collapsed against a tree trunk.

Panting, he leant his head back against the trunk, wiping the back of his hand across his perspiring forehead.

He didn't have long.

Closing his eyes he breathed deeply as he gathered the remnants of his energy and charkra.

Raising his hands he made a hand seal.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu." Naruto breathed, lacking his usual effort.

POOF

In a cloud of white smoke a single clone appeared standing before him.

"Go run around Konoha. You have 40 ½ laps left. Don't let Kakashi become suspicious. Go, or he'll know something's happened." Naruto explained tiredly.

Nodding silently his clone ran off, seemingly with more energy then he had.

He didn't know how long the clone would fool Kakashi, if it did at all…

Stiffly Naruto pushed himself up, using the tree trunk behind him for support. Walking off with as much speed as he could gather he headed off towards the centre of the town, towards the ramen stall. Patting his pocket he felt his money in his pocket.

Oh well, it looked like he was going to have to try his luck…

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Feeling his face grow warm as the blush spread across his cheeks Kakashi giggled at his book. From the corner of his eye he saw the orange shape of Naruto steadily pass.

Eagerly Kakashi turned the page so deeply involved in his book that Naruto could be a naked blond chick and he wouldn't notice.

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"Another please old man!" Naruto cried as he held up his empty bowl. He felt better. Never again would he allow anyone to convince him to eat fruit for breakfast.

Ideally he would stay until he felt ready then return to running the laps, taking his clones place. That or he'd get caught.

"There you go." The man said as he placed Naruto's first ball in front of him.

Eagerly Naruto slurped up the noodles. He was hungry enough to eat ten more bowls at least but he didn't have time.

Gulping down the last of the noodles and drink at the bottom he let out a long sigh.

"Thanks old man!" Naruto said as he slammed his money down on the counter as he turned to run out from the stall having regained some of his energy, though unknown to him where a figure waited.

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Sighing Kakashi closed his book having finally finished reading it.

Clearing his throat he looked around. Naruto should be passing by soon. Hopefully all the running he was doing would help with calm down; he didn't really want to deal with an angry Naruto…again.

The soft sound of distant footsteps reached Kakashi's sensitive ears as he turned expectantly.

Slowly Naruto came into sight, stumbling slightly as well as breathing heavily.

Something was different. He narrowed his visible eye suspiciously.

The expression of anger and resentment was gone from the boy's face that he'd noticed even though he had been reading his book.

Unsurely he pushed up his forehead protector to reveal the Sharingan.

Instantly his vision changed. He could see the charkra moving through the boy's body. Instantly he could see something wasn't right.

"Naruto." The white haired jounin called as he stepped forward away from the stump he'd been leaning against.

Almost unsurely the boy turned, coming to a stop before his sensei.

"There's something different about you. What are you up to?" Kakashi said musing aloud.

"Err…" was the only thing he managed to say before the jounin lashed out, landing a winding blow to the blonds stomach. For a moment Naruto remained frozen, his eyes staring in disbelief at his teacher before…

POOF

The clone disappeared in a cloud of white.

"Naruto." Kakashi breathed though secretly, under his mask, he couldn't help but smile at the boy. He was unique alright.

Funny enough Kakashi knew exactly where he'd find his run away student.

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"Thanks old man!" Naruto cried as he left the ramen stall, ducking out from under the stall flaps before slamming into the chest of a tall person, causing him to bounce back from the force of his own movement.

"Sorry there." Naruto cried looking up, getting ready to run back to the spot where he'd created his clone.

Looking up into the persons face, or rather the lack of it, Naruto froze as dread swept through him.

_Oh shit._

"Er…hello Kakashi sensei." He tried as he took a step back to distance himself from colliding with his sensei.

"I thought I'd find you here." Kakashi said seriously, his lone visible eye narrowed.

"Err, well you see sensei –" naruto stared hurriedly but the jounin cut across him.

"If you resume running at once we'll count the laps that your clone did for you as that was no doubt more difficult to maintain then running the actual laps." Kakashi said before continuing after seeing the look of shock upon his student's face: "Go on then, unless you want to start from the beginning."

He may have spoken seriously but Naruto could tell he was smiling.

"Yes sensei!" he cried before jogging off down the street.

Kakashi simply leap up onto the roof of the nearest building before travelling across the tiled rooftops back to the site with the stone memorial and three wooden stumps.

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The sun was sinking towards the horizon by the time Naruto had finished. Weak kneed, hot and sweaty he had reached Kakashi for the final time.

"50 laps. That was good, even with the use of your clone." Kakashi said as Naruto threw himself to the ground.

To tired to speak Naruto nodded silently from where he sat on the ground, his legs stretched out in front of him as he leaned back, his arms propping him up.

"So how was the sparring? Did it trigger any memories?" Kakashi asked with hidden concern as he looked down at his exhausted student.

"The…the kyuubi…" the blond breathed, still panting from the running. Taking a second to catch his breath Naruto tried again.

"I remember using the kyuubi's strength before, using it more then once. That was the only thing defined, just memories about the kyuubi. Other then that it was just flashes…" Naruto said watching his teacher's response. He was still angry at him but he also felt grateful for ignoring his use of clone to skip running and get lunch. He still wasn't really sure about Kakashi as a person but as his idea popped into his head again that he'd got earlier from fighting Kiba.

"I don't know if it's possible but Kiba gave me an idea for a jutsu of my own that I'd like to try." Naruto said excitedly, more to himself then Kakashi.

"Yeah. What might that be?" Kakashi asked interestedly.

"I can't say, it's an idea in progress." Naruto said cheekily full of his old self as he gave his sensei a wink, tapping the side of his nose as he did so.

Closing his eye Kakashi shrugged carelessly, hiding his genuine interest. The only jutsu he'd know Naruto to create by himself was his infamous 'Sexy no jutsu'. Hopefully it wasn't along the same line as that.

"I have arranged for you Sasuke and Sakura to train with Gai and Asuma's team tomorrow. Your training will be over looked by Asuma as Gai is also on a mission. Iruka, Jiraiya and the other teachers up to the Hokage herself will be keeping a watchful eye on you whilst I'm gone. Try not to piss off the Hokage, the two of you get along well enough now but it was a bit stressful apparently when you first met, so for your own good don't be rude. Trainings done for today. You can go home now." Kakashi said as he took a step forward. "I hope that's clear. You'll be with Asuma's team whilst I'm gone unless you're instructed otherwise by the Hokage, no one else. Look after yourself." Kakashi said seriously before turnings his back on Naruto and walking away towards the setting sun.

"Yes sensei." Naruto replied a little confused to his teachers receding back.

Exhausted, Naruto walked off in the direction of the town, where he was ultimately heading home to pass out. He had no energy, no charkra left of his own. He was hungry and thirsty as well as being hot and sweaty, and possibly sunburnt from the tightness of his exposed skin.

Yawning Naruto wandered home, his shadow stretching out before him in the golden light.

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Authors Rant:

I'm loving the random reviews by the way, they're all great!


	14. Chapter 14

Hello to everyone reading this! Chapter 14 done. Thanks for all the reviews :D though if anyone feels like going on a rant in them then go ahead! It makes them funnier to read. Anyway, like I said, chapter 14. I think it's a bit longer, I tried anyway as I've had a few comments about my chapters being short so here you go! Enjoy and let me know!

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Chapter 14

Cool evening light had settled over Konoha, like a blanket of dark blue silk draped above the town.

Drawing his gaze from the window Kakashi turned back to the Hokage. She was sitting behind her desk, propping her head up with one of her hands as she watched him with a hint of irritation.

"Kakashi, don't think I would be foolish enough to let Naruto run around unsupervised whilst you're on your mission. Your mind should be focused on that, rather then Naruto." Tsunade said, watching him with her sharp eyes. "The whole point of Naruto being with Asuma and Gai's team is for him to socialise with the other genin. I wouldn't have thought you were such a worrier Kakashi."

"Huh, you're right of course." Kakashi said spreading his hands wide carelessly, speaking with his usual drawling tone. "Naruto will be fine but he'll be your problem whilst I'm gone and from how he acts he still doesn't like you very much."

Shooting Kakashi a sharp look the Hokage sighed.

"Are you done then Kakashi or is there anything else you'd like to add?" Tsunade said tiredly.

"Well…now that you mention it." Kakashi said thoughtfully "I'd keep an eye out for this 'new jutsu' Naruto's working on…you never can tell with him."

"Wonderful." Tsunade said sarcastically. Anyone trying to create new jutsu's needed to be watched in case they hurt themselves or others along the process.

"Alright Kakashi, thanks for the heads up." She said with a tone of finality in her voice as she pointedly rustled the papers in front of her.

"Just keep an eye on him for me." Kakashi said quietly, uncharacteristically serious as he watched the Hokage, disappearing from the office in a white cloud.

Tiredly Tsunade rubbed her hand across her eyes. She really didn't need this right now. They had received information that Orochimaru was on the move, to where or why was still an unknown as was all details about him. The village was still recovering from the attack during the finals of the chuunin exam. On top of that they knew Atatsuki was after Naruto. If word of his memory loss reached them then they may try their luck and come to the village again for him…

Slowly as the evening drew on into the night Tsunade remained at her desk deep in thought.

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Knock Knock Knock

Slowly Naruto's eyes opened a minute fraction, the bright sunlight slicing into them painfully. Shielding his eyes with his arm he paused, listening to try and locate what had woken him up.

KNOCK KNOCK

Was it…the front door?

Then he heard it, the muffled female voice that was able to pierce through walls.

If this voice had had a physical form it would have been an extremely sharp knife.

"…NARUTO. NARUTO! COME ON! WE'VE GOT TO MEET ASUMA'S TEAM. OPEN UP!"

_Sakura-chan?_

For a moment Naruto simply remained frozen.

Throwing off his blanket Naruto leapt out of bed.

CRAPCRAPCRAPCRAPCRAPCRAPCRAPCRAPCRAPCRAPCRAPCRAPCRAP!

"HANG ON! I'LL BE OUT IN A MINUTE!" Naruto shouted desperately as he randomly snatched clothes from draws and places around his room.

Throwing off his bedclothes which flew in all directions, including out the window, Naruto pulled on his clean clothes, dashed to the bathroom to have a wash at light speed before grudgingly grabbing a piece of fruit on his way to the front door.

"I'm ready!" he cried as he opened the door only to be greeted by the unimpressed faces of Sasuke and Sakura as they glared at him.

"You took that long and you still look a mess? Did you even brush your hair?" Sakura said as she craned her neck for a closer inspection.

Silently insulted and annoyed as he'd got ready at an amazing speed he sulkily glared at Sakura.

"Can we just go?" Naruto sighed as he pulled his front door shut behind him.

_Too early. Need more sleep. Please…no sparring…_

Silently the two turned away leaving Naruto to trail along behind them as he bit unwillingly into his piece of fruit / breakfast / torture to his taste buds.

Sasuke and Sakura led him to the edge of the town, bordering on the woods where upon rounding the corner a group of people his own age came into view.

In the centre was a boy playing chess against who Naruto assumed to be the teacher, a tall looking man with dark hair and eyes with a cigarette barely balanced between his lips. Asuma?

"Sasuke-kun!" shrieked a girl with white-blond hair as she ran towards them.

Vaguely Naruto recognised her; getting the feeling he'd seen her at the academy.

Everyone turned to look at the new arrivals, noticing them for the first time due to Ino's cry, most of the eyes seeking Naruto (with the exception of Ino and Sakura who had engaged in a glaring match as they edged closer to Sasuke) who felt like he'd been ushered into a very bright spotlight.

Within seconds of their company it seemed Naruto's memory loss was common knowledge from the sudden whispering of a person to their neighbour or just the interested stares.

Looking up his eyes met Asuma's, who was giving Naruto the distinct feeling that he was being weighed up in those serious eyes.

"Make yourselves comfortable." He said to the three before turning back to his game against Shikamaru. _"Geez, why did I end up being the babysitter?"_ he thought irritated as he drew a long breath through his cigarette.

Along with his own team, he was responsible for Gai and Kakashi's team. Every sensei knew Kakashi's team was trouble. Yeah, just what he needed.

Awkwardly Naruto looked round. True, he hadn't wanted to spar but he'd expected some type of training! Everyone was just lounging around whilst the teacher played chess against a brown haired boy on a little wooden table. What were they supposed to do?

Leaving Sakura's side as her quiet exchange of insults with the blond girl became rapidly more violent Naruto walked over towards the empty bench. He only made it half of the way there before he heard someone frantically call his name.

"Naruto-kun!" cried an overly happy voice.

Lee was walking towards him across the clearing, leaving the company of a serious looking boy and a brunette girl.

"How are you Naruto-kun? I hope you are recovered from yesterdays sparring." He said as he came to a stop in front of the blond.

A distance behind Naruto, Sasuke had been trying to edge away from the two bickering girls unnoticed, froze as he heard Lee speak to Naruto.

Naruto had been sparring yesterday? But, Kakashi had cancelled training…

"Er…yeah. Fine, though I don't understand why we had to get up so early."

For some strange reason this made Lee laugh.

"Ah, so early, very funny." He chuckled to himself.

_Ookay_

"Ah, but yes. That was a superb match. I am glad I was finally able to spar against you, even if it had been cut short. Why did your sensei intervene, do you know? It was quite curious."

Suddenly Naruto could feel everyone's eyes on him as he noticed the clearing had become very quiet and still as seemingly everyone was listening to their convocation.

Laughing nervously he scratched the back of his head.

"No idea, he's just a bit strange like that. And always late." Naruto arranged his features into a hasty scowl to feint irritation at his sensei. Kakashi was apparently known for being late; at least that was what he'd picked up from Sakura's rants. He'd thought throwing this in would help make his response seem a little more plausible. Funny enough he didn't feel like explaining that he'd somehow managed to access the charkra of the demon fox that had been sealed within him and had been about to attack Lee with it.

This had brought pieces of his memory to the surface; he remembered how to draw up the demon charkra, even if it was only in a way asking for it. These memories had flashes of the pale eyed, dark haired serious boy Lee had been standing with in them as well as the man with long white hair who'd also been at the clearing yesterday.

Naruto felt even more certain that he could develop this idea for a jutsu now he'd gained these memories about handling the kyuubi charkra. Maybe he would investigate later…

"So what's going on today then? Why is everyone here?" Naruto asked Lee, changing the subject.

From a distance Sasuke silently watched.

What had all that been about then? Naruto had apparently been sparring against Lee for some unknown reason when Kakashi had been forced to intervene, seemingly due to Naruto's actions as Lee hadn't known why…

This was all very intriguing. Naruto's reply had been a complete lie though, he knew the blond well enough to tell when he wasn't telling the truth. He would defiantly find out what was going on.

"I am unsure. We have been left seemingly to our own devices." Lee said somewhat disapprovingly.

For a moment Naruto simply looked around the clearing at the people there. The boy Lee had been standing with was now casually leaning against a tree, whilst the brown hair girl was throwing shuriken at a target she'd carved into the truck of another.

Sakura was still talking, somewhat more civilly, to the blond haired girl whilst Sasuke loitered behind them, similarly leaning against a tree trunk, his dark eyes locked on Naruto's.

Uncomfortably, Naruto drew his eyes away quickly. He wasn't sure what to make of Sasuke yet.

The brown haired boy was still playing chess against his teacher, and was about to win from the look of it.

The only other person present was a boy sitting on the bench Naruto had been heading too, who was happily munching on a packet of crisps. He had strange red spirals drawn on his cheeks.

At the sight of the crisps Naruto heard his stomach groan.

Walking over to the boy Naruto sat down next to him on the bench.

"You don't have any more of those do you?" Naruto said longingly. To hell with fruit! He was still starving.

The boy froze in his eating as he looked at Naruto before casting swift glances around him. Like magic he produced another pack from his pocket and handed it to Naruto.

"Ah! Thank you thank you thank you!" Naruto cried before ripping open the packet as he began to wolf down the crisps.

"Check mate." Shikamaru said quietly as he moved forward his last piece.

Once again Asuma searched the board with his eyes but he knew Shikamaru was right, he always won.

Stretching his arms above his head, Shikamaru stood up looking for Chouji, sighting him sitting over on the bench next to Naruto where they both sat identically munching on packets of crisps.

Walking over he settled down next to Chouji, leaning forward slightly so he could see the blond on the other side.

Continuing to munch on his crisps Naruto watched the brown haired boy that had just sat down on the other side of Chouji. Now that he could see his face Naruto recognised him as Shikamaru. He used to get in trouble at the academy with master Iruka along with Shikamaru and Chouji for not paying attention.

"Did you win Shikamaru?" Naruto asked as he crumpled the empty packet in his hand.

"Hmpf. Shikamaru always wins." Chouji muttered.

"It's always Asuma who wants to play but he's not that good at it." Shikamaru said lazily as he leant back, stretching his arms again but this time over his head. "So what's going on with you? I heard from Kiba and Lee that you've lost your memory but you seem your normal strange self."

"Thanks, I think. But yeah, apparently I've lost quite a bit of it. I remember the academy and shortly after but other then that the next thing is when I woke up in hospital." Naruto explained.

He didn't know how well he knew Shikamaru and Chouji at the current time but it was nice just to chat with familiar people.

Sakura had been walking towards Naruto where he sat on the bench but suddenly Lee was by her side having come out of nowhere. Lee stood chatting passionately to her, close enough that Naruto could hear every word spoken between them, meaning that they were close enough to hear the three of them when they were talking.

Shikamaru was silent for a moment with a thoughtful expression; the only sound was Chouji as he opened a new packet of crisps.

"Didn't you use 'Kage Bunshin' when sparring though?" Shikamaru asked as he watched Naruto.

"Yeah. So?" he said, nonplussed.

"But didn't you learn that after graduating the academy? How come you remember it?" he said in a hint of a question. Chouji was also watching Naruto at this point.

"Noo. I knew it before." He said unsurely. Where was this trial of thought going?

Shikamaru stared intently at the slightly confused Naruto. Had Naruto remembered he might have realised that these were the signs of Shikamaru applying his mind to a problem he was going to solve. This time, Naruto was the problem.

"I remember now. At our classes academy test everyone passed but you, yet when we were assigned to our genin teams you were there with the leaf forehead protector. A sign that you'd passed." Shikamaru said in a knowing way. "You'd failed on creating a shadow clone which was the final exam, so you mustn't have known how to do 'Kage Bunshin'. When did you learn it?" Shikamaru said, almost musing out loud.

At his words Naruto had felt cold dread sweep through him. He felt as though he were on trial.

He hadn't spoken about the night he graduated to anyone, not even Iruka. It wasn't a secret; he could talk about it if he chose too. He'd just never had a reason that he'd have to. He'd never spoken about it as that was the night that he'd found out that the Kyuubi was sealed within him. That was the only thing that was important, something he would never tell anyone.

Uh-oh. He hadn't answerd. Shikamaru was giving him a weird look…say something quick!

"I…er…I learnt it after I failed the academy exam and used it to pass the exam test." Naruto replied quickly.

"When did you get another chance to pass? It must have been soon after." Shikamaru said watching Naruto intently, genuinely interested.

Other then himself, Chouji wasn't the only person listening to this convocation.

Seeing no other way round this now he'd started down the road of telling how he'd passed, Naruto sighed.

"Ok. I'll just say it as otherwise your going to keep asking until you hear the whole story anyway." Naruto said in a rush.

"Master Iruka and Mizuki were my examiners. I failed the academy test. Mizuki found me after and said that there was another way for me to pass. He said I would have to take a scroll secretly, a scroll of jutsu's. If I could learn one of the jutsu's from the scroll and show it to Mizuki I would pass. I didn't know the scroll was forbidden. I took it and memorised 'Kage Bunshin no jutsu' but then Master Iruka found me. He'd realised what had happened."

Naruto paused.

"M-Master Iruka almost died to protect me but he was badly hurt. Mizuki was going to kill him" – here his voice grew angry where before it had simply been rushed and embarrassed – "by using 'Kage Bunshin' I stopped Mizuki. For that sensei gave me his own forehead protector. He let me pass."

Naruto looked up noticing the silence only to find that EVERYONE had been listening to him speaking.

They stared at Naruto in surprise.

He stared back out of fear and shock.

"You beat up a sensei and you hadn't even graduated from the academy? I'm impressed." Shikamaru said with a small smile breaking the silence of the clearing.

Smiling back Naruto decided that Shikamaru was cool.

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Authors Rant:

Oh yeah, I think some of you out there have guessed what Naruto's jutsu is going to be so either I'm stupidly obvious or your all geniuses!


	15. Chapter 15

Hi. Yes it is me.

Everyone reading this: BOOOO!

I know. Before I am pelted with an assortment of rotten fruit and veg (which I fully expect and understand) I would like a pathetic attempt to explain myself.

Whenever it was I last updated it was having difficulties in writing the next/this chapter. For a while I tried to write and I couldn't so I slowly gave up even though you readers out there were the cause of me receiving on average one review a week STIIL after weeks and months even up to this week. It was also only recently I saw how many C2's this story was in and I felt v.bad and I didn't want to give up on this story even though so much time had passed. I don't even know if my writing style is still the same.

So here I am, back again and ready to receive countless reviews saying 'you're a bum' which would true.

This chapter is short without any real drama but it was pretty tough to write and was spread across more then one day. I'm just trying to get back into the swing of things.

Official apology: I'm sorry for the delay. Now I will flee!

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Naruto managed to get through the rest of the day without incident as shortly after the story of his graduation they were allowed to leave (Asuma acting as though he hadn't noticed what was going on) to fill the rest of the afternoon with individual training. Everyone could see in the jounin's face that Asuma just wanted to get rid of them.

Not that Naruto was complaining…he actually preferred the cold stares and hostility to the questioning looks and interested muttering.

They were finally paying attention to him but not in a good way, or in a 'he'd just pulled a prank and got caught' way. They were interested in his secrets which he had no intention of spilling even if the older shinobi that fought against the kyuubi already knew.

He bid Shikamaru and Chouji a quick goodbye before making a hasty exit from the clearing, feeling the eyes burning into his back absolutely certain that a pair of them belonged to Sauske.

Seeing that confident bastards face was the last thing he needed right then. He wanted to go train but the blond genin got the feeling that if he did the teme might follow him, so Naruto headed to the only place he felt certain no one would bother him: home.

No one wanted anything to do with 'the demon fox' when he was in his shabby lair.

So hunched over with his hands in his pockets and eyes lowered the fiery blond walked at a decent speed through the bustling streets, the heat of the sun beaming down on the exposed skin on the back of his neck.

_Why did he answer Shikamaru's questions? It wasn't as though he was the only one who knew but the whole of Asuma's and Gai's team along with Sauske and Sakura!_

Not even the alluring smell of ramen from his favourite stall could persuade him to linger in the streets with other people, other ninja's.

That was when he heard it…

"NARUTO! NARUTO!" An all too familiar voice called out to him.

Unable to stop himself the blond looked over his shoulder in search of the person who'd called out to him.

"Naruto." Sakura said a little breathlessly as she fell into step along side him.

"Sakura chan?" he said quizzically.

_She actually wanted to talk to him?_

"I-I just wanted to see if you were ok. You left very quickly." Sakura said as she watched him with interest.

Instantly Naruto's trademark grin was fixed in place.

"Everything's great Sakura chan! I was just eager to continue my training!" he beamed.

_Well, a half truth. I do want to start thinking on how to work for my possible idea for my jutsu…_

"I just wanted to say congratulations on your graduation; I know I didn't say it to you then." She said awkwardly not quite meeting his eyes. "I guess I shouldn't have been surprised; you always do everything with a bang." Sakura said with a slight laugh.

_Come to think of it, he probably didn't remember the day we were assigned into teams…_

"Uh, yeah thanks. I'll catch you later as I gotta go train." The blond said awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head. "Well, bye!"

With a final grin he dashed away into the crowd, disappearing as completely as a shadow merging into the black of night, leaving Sakura to stare sadly after him.

There was so much the village didn't know about him and that was how it was going to stay.

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Back at his apartment Naruto clicked on the kettle as he pulled an instant Ramen from the vast stock in his cupboard. His usual upbeat demeanour was already starting to return having decided that there was nothing really wrong with people knowing how he'd graduated as long as they didn't ask anything further.

Before recounting the story of his graduation he'd actually been having a good time just talking to Shikamaru and Choji. The sense of wrongness hadn't yet left him at seeing all of his friends looking older and (annoyingly) taller.

He wondered if he'd done anything great or learned any awesome jitsu's over the last couple of years. He'd come to accept what they had said about his memory but that didn't make it any less strange.

With the click of the kettle a stream of steam rose up from the spout. Mixing the boiling water with the dried Ramen the blond settled down to his favourite meal as he tried to think of where to start with the forming of his possible jitsu.

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When I said short I meant it. I'll try and get back into the swing of it and see this through!


	16. Chapter 16

i'm back again! i'm trying to update regularly even if the chapters aren't very long. thank for the reviews even though i disappeared for sooo long. i could help but chuckle when someone said they were glad that i wasn't dead. :-p

well, enjoy!

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Sitting on his own clean but shabby kitchen as he slurped his instant ramen Naruto let his mind wander in thought.

_Where to start…where to start…_

This was not the first time the blond had planned out creating a jutsu; this was just the first offensive one. Sexy no jutsu wasn't exactly harmful, though it had resulted in numerous nosebleed and the occasional black out for the victim.

He might as well as have no previous experience as the jutsu he was planning was so different to anything he knew, he didn't even know if it could be done. Even if it worked it might be useless in battle. The only way was to experiment and adapt to the problems that arose.

Swallowing another mouthful of the steaming noodles Naruto replayed the memory of Kiba using Shikyaku no Jutsu, literally meaning 'Down on All Fours Technique'.

Overall though the jutsu was not advanced, being one of the more basic jutsus.

But Naruto didn't want to copy it, it was just an insparation.

During the fight with Kiba the jutsu had intrigued him, he knew his own level of speed was nothing impressive and so something to increase it would be of value in battle (meaning: to kick Sauske's ass!) but it was really during his fight against Lee that Naruto had received a prompting to actually try and develop this into a jutsu of his own making.

An image of the Kyuubi.

Looking back on the fight Naruto could clearly see that he had some how channeled the Kyuubi's charkra to use as his own. He didn't know what he had done since his graduation but he hoped he hadn't used that charkra.

It was horrible…burning. Echos of a voice urging him on. _'destroy…maim…KILL'_

But if the charkra had come that easily he must have been using it, and that was something he didn't want to do. What if it took him over, took over his mind. He could attack the whole village without even realising it.

He intended to steer clear for using tha charkra, except he didn't know how he'd even drawn it.

No, he didn't want the kyuubi's charkra. He wanted it's shape, it's form.

Having drawn the Kyuubi chakra whilst fighting Lee a stream of images had flicked before his minds eye in a slideshow almost too fast to see anything but blurs and shapes.

Out of all of the images one had stuck as the others slipped away like water through a sieve. An image of the kyuubi in all its terrifying glory, it's nine tails slashing the night sky like whips, its rolling black eyes, its muscled limbs and teeth and claws as hard as diamonds, gleaming in the moonlight.

He was certain that he had never seen this in his life unless the kyuubi had broken through the seal within him. It was like he was seeing a part of someone else's memory.

But seeing Shikyaku no Jutsu performed which gave the user beastish qualities and this image of the Kyuubi…the two seemed to overlap in his mind.

But so far, that was all he'd got. And so back to Naruto's thoughts:

_Where to begin…where to begin…_

-

Naruto had gone home in the hope that no one would disturb him which had turned out to be correct, which is why a seething Sauske was to be found venting his rage in a deserted area of woods.

_What the hell is going on! Kakashi taking Naruto on secret sparring sessions against Lee! And what could have happened that was so bad that Kakashi had been forced to intervene!_

The sound of multiple 'thumps' were the only indication of a tree trunk that was fast turning into a pin cushion from the number of kunai and shuriken embedded in the tree.

As far as Sauske was concerned this whole 'memory loss' had been suspicious from the start. Kakashi had never exactly answered his question of how Naruto's memory loss had even occurred.

It was really starting to piss Sauske off.

There was so much secrecy around the blond that he'd never noticed; he'd never even had a second thought about how he'd graduated from the academy.

And then when Naruto was whisked away by Jiraiya, one of the three legendary sennin. Even then he had wondered why someone so strong would show interest in a mere genin.

And then someone else had gone after the annoyingly loud WEAK blond, someone stronger then Jiraiya. A man who had murdered his entire clan, except one boy. His brother had gone after Naruto.

Itachi had gone after Naruto.

Once again the reason was never explained to him.

In his eyes there was nothing special about the irritating blond, he just had a ridiculous amount of stamina.

But why-WHY-were all of these powerful nins placing an interest with him!

Sauske had only felt his curiosity and frustration rise as Naruto had already run off when Asuma had dismissed them. He followed the feel of his chakra but could tell that he had already made in into the main street (with lots of people where Sauske couldn't 'way lay' him) and presumably heading home.

He'd been planning to catch Naruto and question him as to what was REALLY going on as Kakashi was away on some scouting mission.

_Oh well. Kakashi's not back for a while, I'll certainly be given more chances to find out what's really going on…_

-

Naruto's development had progressed in a minuscule amount.

He was still sitting at his table, this time with multiple empty ramen pots scattered around him as he stared down at the practically blank scroll before him.

Not knowing where to start he began at the beginning as that was the sort of genius he was.

So on the scroll before him were a couple of notes jotted down and a couple of crudely drawn diagrams, including an overly muscled Naruto pulverising a spindly looking Sauske whilst Sakura swooned in the back ground. Of course the drawings were that badly done that none of the pictures looked like who they were supposed to be but anyone looking on could probably guess without too much trouble. He may be the number one hyperactive unpredictable ninja of the village but it didn't take a jounin to understand his relationship with his team mates.

Amongst the random doodling and drawings there were signs that he'd actually been putting a lot of focus into this. Over to one side was another diagram of a stick man (representing himself) that seemed to be surrounded by some sort of force.

The stick man was surrounded with chakra that had taken the shape of a fox.

-

sorry bout the lame ass ending. well, it felt lame to me.


End file.
